Open Your Eyes
by CharlotteBlackwood
Summary: Jade thought she understood the probably trajectory for her life and had accepted it, but those Black brothers she thought she understood so well proved as unpredictable as ever and she began to question everything. RB/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is dedicated to rainbowpop, one of my most faithful readers and reviewers, and harassers. :D She has requested of me Regulus/OC, and so I have delivered. The plot's still a bit half-baked in my mind as this is not my primary focus atm, but it will come as it goes along. I hope you enjoy, all of you, read and review and tell me what you'd like to see! This story may be tragic. Fair warning. Cheers!**

**-J**

Her books tumbled out of her hands for the fifth time that week and all Jade Alexander wanted to do was scream. If it wasn't bad enough that she had to deal with getting those looks for being a Hufflepuff, the only Hufflepuff in her all-Slytherin family, she was also a regular target of ridicule for the Gryffindor gang called the Marauders, particularly Sirius Black, who had really been picking on her since she was about six, at large pureblood events. She had no idea why he couldn't just leave her alone, like his brother had always done, but maybe it was because their parents had tried to marry them, before they were both Sorted into non-Slytherin Houses. After that they decided it would be safer not to push that particular marriage, but the teasing didn't cease with the betrothal.

It was lucky she didn't have classes with him, she mused as she picked up her books. She did have classes with Regulus, but he didn't ever even acknowledge her. Some of the Slytherins would sneer at her in passing, but Regulus pretended she wasn't there. Maybe he thought it was nicer that what he would have to do if he acknowledge her presence, which was treat her like filth on the bottom of his shoe.

She brushed her blonde hair out of her face and stuck the last of her books on the stack before lifting them all up in her arms again. And then an impossible gale-force wind knocked her over again and the books tumbled out of her hands for the sixth time that week and she groaned with despair. Why couldn't Sirius just leave her alone?

"Sirius, cut it out," said a voice she hadn't heard in a very long time, but there was no response and she heard the sound of someone running away as someone else rushed toward her.

"Are you all right, Alexander?"

It was Regulus, standing over her regally before bending down to help pick up her books.

"I'm fine," she muttered, trying not to look at him.

"You don't look fine," he said softly. "Let me help you."

"I don't want your help," she whispered, knowing that if any of the Hufflepuffs saw her talking to him they would never speak to her again.

Not that they spoke to her much in the first place. Most of them were frightened of her, of her family, of her Slytherin background.

"Please," Regulus said, "I'll help with these books and then I'll leave you alone if you'd like, all right?"

She couldn't argue with that, so Jade nodded, allowing him to sweep up her books and place them back in her arms. Then he turned and brushed her hair back out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear.

"And I'm sorry," he said. "Sirius is having a rough time of things. He's always taken it out on you, and even though he's got dozens more targets, you'll always be his favorite."

"Why?" Jade said softly, still not looking up into the gray eyes that were so much like his brother's.

Regulus just shrugged.

He walked away and they went back to not talking to each other for years, until their fifth year at Hogwarts, when they were both made prefects. Their parents threw a joint party in the Alexander's garden, and they were expected to behave as a host and hostess, as they were the ones being honored. It was good practice, his mother had informed them, for when they became heads of their families.

Because Sirius had run away the summer before, leaving Regulus to deal with the pressures and expectations of being the heir of the Black family and yet still Sirius teased Jade whenever he got a moment. She had gotten better at ignoring it, which was what she had been doing for years, but the thing that frustrated her most was that she couldn't figure why he teased her, especially as she had never, ever done anything to him.

"Congratulations," Regulus said as she entered the garden to look over seating arrangements for the party.

She looked over at him. He was lounging so carelessly in his chair, hair falling so lazily into his eyes that for a moment she could have mistaken him for his brother. She frowned.

"On what?"

"Being named prefect," he said. "Of course."

"Oh, thank you," she said, sitting down across from him at the circular table. "You too."

"It's absurd, isn't it?" he scoffed, sounding very much like his brother again. "You would think they were holding a wedding, not a simple party for us being made prefects."

She frowned.

Jade hadn't been betrothed again since she was eleven, when she was sorted into Hufflepuff and her betrothal with Sirius broken off.

"Have they found you somebody yet?" she asked Regulus, fiddling with the place card.

"No," he said. "You?"

"Not since Sirius," she sighed.

Jade continued to play with the little place card, noticing that it was for Regulus's mother. She frowned slightly, wondering why the woman had insisted that they celebrate together.

"You look lovely," Regulus said softly.

She looked up at him, mildly surprised that he had said such a thing outside of the proper formal setting. Jade liked to think that she did, in fact, look lovely, in her baby blue dress robes, her long blonde hair done up in a complicated plaited bun on the top of her head. Still, she hadn't expected compliments until the guests had begun to arrive.

She looked over at him in his silvery dress robes, looking like the very picture of a Slytherin aristocrat, perhaps not quite as handsome as his brother but still very much a credit to the Black family, and certainly far less of an embarrassment.

"You look very nice as well," she said, knowing she was required to say such things, but finding herself meaning them, not merely saying them out of propriety.

"Thank you," he muttered, and they sat in an awkward, forced sort of silence until her mother rushed out to the garden and announced that the guests were arriving and she should be up in her room so that she could make an entrance, and Regulus gave her a short little bow before hurrying to the entryway to meet them.

Jade pouted in her room, not wanting to go down and be presented to all the families her parents thought she should socialize with, most on the advice of Walburga Black, who spent half her time scheming at social possibilities and the other half grousing about Sirius and his great betrayal.

When her mother finally sent the house-elf to tell her that enough guests had arrived and it was time for her entrance, Jade brushed out her skirt and sighed heavily. Plastering a modest smile on her face, she walked down the hall steadily, chin held high, and carefully walked down the staircase, knowing that all of the people she had no desire to see would be waiting at the bottom to tell her how pretty she looked. It was so unbearably dull.

Regulus was there, and he kissed her hand ceremoniously, and she noticed their parents exchanging satisfied smiles. She went out to the garden on Regulus's arm, as he was conveniently there.

As it happened, they were seated beside each other at the head circular table, and Jade remembered that this was a joint celebration. Of course the guests of honor would be seated together. It would make it easier for people to greet them with congratulations and to see them as they whispered about them throughout the afternoon. What she hadn't expected was for Regulus to pull out her chair for her, and push it in when she sat. She hadn't expected him to be sitting quite so close. She hadn't been expecting not to mind.

Dinner was the typical stuffy pureblood affair, although the food was quite good, and Regulus and Jade found themselves talking about nothing as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, and avoiding substance like it could only bring bad humor to the atmosphere. It probably would, as the only thing worth talking about anymore was the war, anyway. That never put anybody in a good mood.

Finally, Orion Black stood to address the crowd, as well as Jade's father, who deferred to Orion in all things. Orion cleared his throat and the whole garden grew eerily silent.

"As you all know, this is a day of celebration, of congratulations, for the heirs of our two families, who have both accomplished the first step on bringing lasting pride to their families. However, this is not the only announcement worth congratulating on their behalf today."

Jade tried very hard not to frown. What else had she done? What had Regulus done? She looked over at him, and he shrugged slightly, eyes still trained on his father.

"We are very pleased to announce," Orion continued, "the engagement of my son Regulus and the lovely Miss Jade Alexander. They are to marry upon graduating Hogwarts."

She stared up at her supposed father-in-law-to-be and her father and just blinked at them, hardly noticing the polite applause and excited whispers as Regulus, probably knowing it was expected, took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips, brushing a gentle kiss across her knuckles. She might have noticed that it felt nice if she wasn't so in shock.

Despite the fact that she was still receiving congratulations from the lingering guests, Jade went straight up to her room as soon as her mother left the table to see out one of the more important guests. Her mother called up after her again, but Jade didn't answer, simply sitting in a chair and staring at the bookshelf.

Betrothed, once again, to a Black. She could think of dozens of girls who would kill to be in her place, and might even actually try to once they found out the new heir to the Black fortune was engaged. But she wasn't six years old anymore. She was practically of age, only a little over a year away from coming of age, and her parents didn't even warn her, didn't hint, didn't even ask for her opinion.

Not that she would have had one. Jade hadn't really allowed herself to fancy boys. She could appreciate that the Black brothers were as good looking as anyone could really hope for, but with no more personal interest than appreciating that Lily Evans of Gryffindor was stunning. Noticing the fact didn't make her any more likely to pin her marriage hopes and dreams on them. She hadn't really even had marriage hopes and dreams. She just hoped she wouldn't end up alone or with someone she hated and that she would be left more or less to her own devices when she did her duties to whatever household she was married into.

It wasn't that she wasn't a romantic; it was just that she had seen enough pureblood marriages to know that the odds that she would end up with a beautiful romantic fantasy were so low that she didn't ever dare hope for it in any serious way. It didn't mean she didn't think about what it would be like, but there was no point wishing for something she'd never have. Then maybe, if fate was kind, she would be pleasantly surprised someday.

But it still stung that her parents didn't allow her input into her own future.

There was a knock at her bedroom door and she thought that odd, for her parents would not have left the guests unattended, and they would not have knocked if the guests were gone. More out of curiosity than anything, Jade answered the door and was greeted by the perfectly unreadable face of Regulus Black and his swirling gray eyes.

"May I come in?" he said with all of the propriety required of him, and Jade didn't have the energy or a particularly good reason to refuse him, so she opened the door wider to allow him in, and gestured to a chair he could sit on.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly, and Jade wasn't exactly sure how to answer the question. Was anything wrong with her? No. Was her pride injured? Absolutely. She was confused and disappointed, but also she knew that it was very likely she was making a big deal over nothing. After all, Regulus always seemed to be perfectly nice, if a bit aloof. But then, Jade could certainly be accused of being aloof herself, so could she honestly fault him for that?

"I suppose I'm fine," she said finally. "A bit surprised, certainly. And I wish they would have asked me or at least informed me, but I think they could have betrothed me to a lot of worse people than you."

Then it occurred to her.

"Did your parents talk to you about it?"

He hesitated, but after a short while he said, "In a manner of speaking."

In a manner of speaking. What did that mean? Jade raised a questioning eyebrow and Regulus cleared his throat.

"I actually asked them to arrange it. So if you look at it through that lens, yes, they certainly talked with me about it."

Jade blinked. He _asked_ his parents to arrange their betrothal? After spending almost their entire lives virtually ignoring her existence, he thinks it's some great idea to marry her? What on earth had been going through his head, that he thought she'd be a passive enough wife not to make his life as much of a hell as if his mother picked the second coming of herself?

"Excuse me?"

Regulus sighed.

"Maybe it was stupid. But my parents asked me if I had gotten serious about my role as heir since my brother left, and I told them I already had been planning and they asked me if I'd picked a wife, and I said that I wanted you."

"But… but why?" Jade said, not quite sure of what else to say and certainly not willing to end the conversation until she felt at some sort of peace with this new direction in her life, which she was far from.

"Because," he said. "There were many reasons. I'd rather we talk about them over time, not all at once. As we get to know each other."

"So you acknowledge that we don't even know each other," Jade said sarcastically. "That's a good start."

"I wouldn't say that," Regulus countered. "We know enough about each other that I would say that we can certainly build a solid foundation. But I mean as we get to know each other more intimately." He paused, then continued hastily, "Not necessarily in a physical way right away, that can wait until after we're married if that's your desire."

Jade blinked again.

Had he just said he wanted to sleep with her? What exactly had she not noticed about Regulus Black all those years she was trying to avoid Sirius?

"This isn't coming out right," he sighed. "That's why I wanted it to happen naturally, for us to discuss things naturally as we got closer, not because of trying to sit down and hash it all out at once. I don't say what I want to when I'm nervous."

Jade frowned and said, "Why didn't you just not say anything, then?"

Regulus's eyes widened in surprise.

"I wasn't going to lie to you. You asked me a question. It was only right for me to answer it fully and truthfully."

She frowned even deeper. Why?

"But why did you come up here in the first place? You didn't even have to seek out the conversation. You should have known I would ask."

Regulus seemed to chew on the inside of his mouth as he got up to pace the room. For a moment, a very brief moment, Jade was strongly reminded of Sirius, who would pace in this way when he was frustrated by something that was restraining him… even from a young age. In fact, it was exactly what the seven-year-old Sirius had done when their parents informed the pair that they were betrothed. But this wasn't the case with Regulus. He had done the informing, they had simply done the arranging of his wishes.

Finally, he stopped pacing and looked right at her, steeling himself, and saying, "Because I was sure you were upset with the match and I wanted to get the words from your mouth. I didn't want to hold you to it if you were unhappy. I don't think I could make myself go through with it if you were unhappy."

"But what does my happiness matter," Jade said logically, standing and moving toward him, "when I've got the Alexander fortune to my name and come from a long line of heir-bearing women?"

She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but it seeped through in small amounts.

Regulus looked almost remorseful as he took a step toward her.

"Don't you want more than that sort of marriage?" he challenged. "Don't you want better than what your parents have? Don't you want to marry someone you actually would like to be with?"

"Of course," Jade said impatiently. "But why would what I want actually matter?"

As if something in him snapped, a wild look she had seen only in Sirius's eyes came across Regulus's eyes and she almost took a step back but he grabbed her shoulders and said urgently, "Because I love you," before he pressed his lips firmly and briefly to hers, released her, and stalked quickly out of the room without another word.


	2. Those Silly Black Boys

Jade had hardly slept or eaten for days. She hadn't seen Regulus since he had made his bold, out-of-character declaration and kissed her. He hadn't written to explain. She hadn't dared write to demand an explanation. Her own mind had churned over the possibilities so much that she couldn't possibly think of any new ones, and she still didn't know what he had meant by it all.

After all, he had agreed that the didn't really know each other, at least, not well as they ought to for a pair getting married, so how could he have truly, in good faith, said that he loved her? Her mind was heavy with such thoughts as she allowed her father to push her trolley through King's Cross Station toward platform nine and three-quarters.

She strolled through the brick wall onto the platform and looked around, as many people did when they arrived, but for her it was more because it was done than anything else. She didn't have any friends to look for, and she certainly wasn't looking for her fiancé.

He found her regardless, however, and was greeted warmly by her father, who seemed more pleased at the match than anyone.

"Jade," Regulus said formally, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles as he had done when their engagement was announced.

"Regulus," she replied, trying not to bite her lip. They would have to talk on the train. They would have to discuss what had happened. They couldn't simply not speak forever about his declaration of love and the… the kiss…

"Let me get your things for you," he said, taking her trunk and carrying it onto the scarlet steam engine.

"Have a good year," her mother said kindly. "Study hard. I expect to see lots of Outstandings when you receive your scores this summer."

"Yes, mother," Jade said, smoothing out the skirt of her peach sundress.

"I expect you to be getting close with your fiancé, as well," her father said. "This is your priority now, Jade, not letting anything get in the way of this marriage. You'll be the richest witch in England."

Technically, it would make Regulus the richest wizard in England, as he would acquire her wealth, but Jade wouldn't acquire his, but she didn't point out this small technical detail, as she understood her father's meaning perfectly and simply nodded compliantly.

"Of course, father."

"Good," he said, kissing her forehead. "Have fun."

Jade hurried onto the train and followed Regulus to the compartment where the prefects' meeting was to take place. As expected, she sat beside him, although careful not to make physical or eye contact with him, despite the fact that she was well aware he was doing exactly the same thing. As soon as they were dismissed from the boring meeting which outlined duties for the new prefects and discussed changes for the returning students, they were released and asked to patrol the corridors for a while at some point on the journey. Jade decided to get her patrolling out of the way, giving her time to clear her head before having to face Regulus.

What she hadn't counted on was being yanked into a compartment by none other than Sirius Black. Without so much as a greeting he grabbed her left hand and looked down at the Black family ring that had been given to her as a symbol of her betrothal (the same one she had worn when betrothed to Sirius, but since magically adjusted to her much bigger fingers) and snarled at it as though it was attacking him.

"So the rumors are true," he growled. "What are you thinking, Alexander?"

"Excuse me?" Jade said, confused, and Sirius pushed her hard against the wall.

"Why the hell are you engaged to my brother?" he hissed. "Don't you know what he's going to become?"

Jade hadn't thought about that, about the fact that Regulus would become a Death Eater. She wondered what that would mean for her, but it didn't matter at the moment. It didn't change the fact of the betrothal. For her family, it was more of a plus than anything else.

"Well, I certainly didn't have any say in it," she responded tartly. "After all, it's not like he and I have ever been chums."

"So call it off," Sirius hissed. "You're not marrying him."

"Why do you care so much?" Jade snapped, not wanting to say that she wasn't going to call it off because after all, what was the point?

"Because I love you, you idiot!" he snapped, pressing his lips to hers in almost exactly the same manner Regulus did, but when he pulled away he didn't leave her in shock. Instead they stood there staring at each other as if trying to decide what had actually just happened.

And then Jade began to laugh.

Sirius frowned down at her as she collapsed into the nearest seat with a fit of giggles, absolutely unable to process her life as it was. This couldn't be happening. None of this could be happening. It was all some sort of weird pipe dream.

"What's so funny?" Sirius finally said, bewildered. "I just poured my heart out to you and now you're laughing at me. What did I do?"

"It's not you," Jade sighed when she finally regained control of herself. "It's just Regulus just did that same exact thing after the engagement was announced."

Sirius frowned.

"What, exactly, tell you to call off the engagement?"

"Oh, no," she said casually. "Apparently he's the one who came up with the whole thing. No, he professed his love for me, kissed me, but then he left the room and we haven't actually said a word to each other since. Not that we'd ever said many words to each other before. But that's the thing, you always teased me." She frowned. "What do you mean you love me? How could you? You made my life miserable for ten years and now you tell me that you love me? What's wrong with you Blacks?"

"I've been in love with you for years," Sirius sighed. "Regulus and I, we were taught to be above feelings so… so it's a bit hard for us to express how we feel properly, but I think I fell in love with you when you tossed that bucket of frog eyes at Lucius Malfoy when he was picking on you at the annual midsummer feast."

Jade blinked.

"I think I was five when that happened," she said. "I had nearly forgotten all about it, actually."

"I hadn't," he said softly. "I remember almost everything you've ever done."

"That isn't hard," she joked. "I don't do much, especially when you're around, if you don't count picking up my books and holding my skirt down from artificial wind gusts and when I get hoisted up by my ankle and… and…" She frowned deeply. "Hang on a minute."

Sirius blushed a bit, which didn't suit him at all, and he turned so that he wasn't looking at her for the first time since he'd pulled her into the compartment.

"All these years, all the pranks and teasing, and all you've been doing is trying to look up my skirt!"

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. He hadn't hated her at all, he was just being a pervert. All those years she had been obsessively frustrated with his despising her and he had merely been taking his opportunities to look at her knickers.

Perhaps it was a bit dramatic, but she had the urge to say that her whole life felt like a lie. She decided not to, but the thought certainly danced across her mind.

"Please call off the engagement," Sirius said.

"I can't," Jade intoned automatically.

"Why?" he snarled. "Because he's got the money? I inherited Uncle Alphard's money anyway, you know. I've got enough to provide for you."

Jade sighed. Honestly, she hadn't had a proper conversation with either boy for years and now all they wanted to do was talk about marriage. It wasn't like she was so anxious to be married off, and it was difficult to even picture Sirius getting married. He had always been such a free spirit.

"No," she sighed. "I don't care about money. My parents care, but I've got plenty of inheritance of my own, thank you. It's a simple matter of the fact that I'm allowed to marry him and I'm not allowed to marry you."

"How do you feel?" Sirius demanded. "What do you want?"

Why couldn't he have just left her alone to think like Regulus had? Why did he have to keep asking her questions she didn't know the answers to?

"I don't know," she snapped back at him.

"Do you love him?" Sirius demanded.

"No," she said, "I–"

"Do you love me?" he said, clearly a little more hopeful.

"Sirius, no, I don't love anybody," she said testily. "I haven't even thought about love or marriage since I was eleven years old."

"I'll make you love me," he said in a low voice. "I'm going to do whatever it takes, Jade. I'm not losing you, and I'm especially not losing you to my brother."

"Sirius," she began, about to point out that he couldn't lose what he'd never really had in the first place, but he pressed his lips to hers once more, cutting off her sentence with an even more demanding kiss than the first one. Jade had to admit, he knew what he was doing, and she could understand why girls turned to jelly in his presence, but she didn't appreciate much the fact that he wasn't letting her speak or explain anything. She felt that those were tokens of basic respect, and wasn't respect an important part of love?

But what did Jade know about love, anyway?

When Sirius pulled back from the kiss he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "I love you, Alexander. I'm going to have you one way or another."

And then he released his hold on her upper arms and stalked out of the compartment, quickly regaining his confident, suave gait that he was so well-known for.

And Jade began to laugh again, touching her lips, looking at her fingers, and laughing, and then repeating the action several times before she was interrupted.

"There you are," said Regulus. "You've been a while. Did you not want to sit with me? Is that why you didn't come back to the compartment? I can give you space… Why are you laughing?"

She waved at him dismissively.

"I was distracted."

"By what?" he asked, frowning, sitting down beside her.

"Your brother," she said, laughing once more. "Apparently he's been in love with me for most of our lives and he wants me to marry him." She laughed again. "And he kissed me twice. And basically told me that he was going to have me and then left." She gave a little giggle. "Honestly, what is wrong with you two?"

Regulus's eyes gained a dark, dangerous quality she had never seen in them before and he grabbed her wrist hard, which ceased the laughing right away.

"I don't want you talking to him," he hissed. "I don't want him anywhere near you."

"I don't talk to him anyway," she said, confused.

"You were just talking to him," Regulus pointed out. "It will not happen again, do you understand?"

Jade blinked.

"I didn't have much of a choice in the matter," she said calmly. "Seems like my whole life could be described that way, lately. Are you planning on picking the courses I take next year as well, or perhaps the clothes I put on when I'm not wearing my uniform? Surely I get to choose how I do my hair, at the very least."

Regulus's eyes widened and he looked a bit sad before saying, "I'm sorry, Jade. I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have implied that sort of control over you. I panicked. Forgive me."

Jade nodded and said, "Panicked how?"

He looked down at his hands for a moment before slowly saying, "Sirius tends to get whatever Sirius wants. And I was worried that the one thing I really wanted would get taken from me by him again. I know he's going to try and I… I'm worried that I can't compete."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "Again?"

"He's not the only one who's been in love with you most of our lives," Regulus said with a small smile."

"Was it the frog eyes for you, too?" she said with a smirk.

"Frog eyes?" he muttered, bemused. "No," he continued looking up at her, "no it was watching you handle all of us stupid boys at the parties with such grace, even as a child. I mean, Bella was respected or someone had bodily harm induced, and Narcissa just sort of followed everyone around, but you did what you wanted to do, and you didn't really bother with the boys unless you had to, and then you dealt with every infliction of annoyance with such… I don't know, I'm not saying it very well. Anyway, I always liked the fact that you didn't bother with Sirius, even though he clearly drove you up the wall."

Jade frowned. Regulus wasn't very good with words, but he did seem to mean them, and he was sweet and sincere. She tried to think about him growing up, but she could hardly even remember seeing him at the parties. She was always too busy trying to get Sirius or Lucius to stop pestering her. Suddenly, a realization hit her.

Narcissa Black had become engaged to Lucius Malfoy the day after Jade's engagement to Regulus was announced.

Had Lucius and Sirius been somehow fighting over her all those years and she never even noticed?

But then, Jade hadn't noticed that Regulus was in love with her, either, so apparently she'd missed everything of consequence in her lack of love life. She looked up at Regulus. He was watching her intently, as if expecting her to do or say something to give him some measure of comfort.

They were engaged. That wasn't about to change. Even if she wanted Sirius, which she didn't know how she felt on that regard, she would have to be a runaway too, to go against everything she knew, and Jade didn't see the point in that. She didn't much like the idea of being a Death Eater, but Regulus wasn't like Lucius… he had sensitivity and care for other human beings. He noticed things, which mean he actually looked at the world around him instead of blindly following. Maybe there was hope that he would change his mind on blood purity, or at least not pick a side. Jade didn't really have views on the matter either, and she couldn't ask Regulus to have views if she herself didn't really believe in anything.

But… but… Something else.

Regulus had actually gotten her attention first, not by teasing her or imposing himself on her by annoying her and frustrating her, but by simply telling his parents he wanted to marry her and letting them go about organizing the engagement. Although she had been initially irritated that he had done so, that she hadn't been informed or consulted, it was a far more mature way of going about his supposed emotions than Sirius, who still acted like a twelve-year-old half the time. Perhaps Jade had been hasty in her initial reaction to the engagement and Regulus's actions.

He had been right about one thing, they hardly knew each other well enough for her to know what to think, and they would have to get to know each other better at any rate, as they were going to be married unless something absolutely unforeseeable happened. She might as well start right away.

"Who is in the compartment?" she asked quietly.

"Severus," he said. "Avery, Nott, Mulciber."

She tried very hard not to let her distaste for his friends show in her features, but his small smile told her that she hadn't been very successful.

"Can we just stay here?" she asked.

Regulus considered her, chewing the inside of his mouth thoughtfully. Finally, he said, "I'll go and get our robes so we can change later. I will be right back."

Jade sat patiently for him to return with their robes, and he even grabbed one of her school books for her, the Arithmancy text. Of course, he wouldn't likely know how much she hated Arithmancy, and the gesture was nice enough. He handed her the robes respectfully before sitting down beside her, clearly not sure what to do next.

With only minor hesitation, Jade reached out and slipped her fingers through his.

Regulus started at the contact, looked down at their hands, and blinked a bit down at them, as if I wasn't entirely sure what to make of them. When he realized that she had voluntarily held his hand a smile slowly spread across his face. The muscles of his hands tightened a little in a squeeze around hers, and she couldn't help but smile back at him a bit. It felt nice, holding her hand. She wanted to tell him so but thought better of it. She wasn't sure how she felt about him yet, and he certainly would feel rather chuffed at her saying such a thing.

Still, as they zoomed along the English countryside she barely noticed the fact that she subconsciously was enjoying the feel of his thumb caressing the skin of her hand, or the fact that his scent was making her smile contentedly. As they got closer, after he bought her some candy from the trolley, she hardly even noticed that when she took a nap her head fell onto his shoulder, and she noticed even less as she blurred in that land between sleep and wakefulness that he kissed the top of her head to send her off to peaceful dreams.

**A/N: This chapter, like this story, is dedicated to **_**rainbowpop**_** who has pestered it into hastier existence. For those of you who have been happy with my more regular updating, despite the fact that it's finals soon, you have her to thank. I recommend thanking her personally and profusely, but that's just me. ;) Hope you like it! Send me a review to tell me what you think!**

**-J**


	3. A Step in the Right Direction

It had barely taken a week back at school for Jade to want to scream. Sirius had stopped teasing her, which was not so relieving and refreshing as she had thought it would be for every time she turned around she caught him staring at her with dark eyes and she knew exactly what he was thinking of and it made her shiver, though what sort of shiver she couldn't be sure.

Her biggest problem with Regulus, on the other hand, was Regulus's behavior about the whole Sirius question. Yes, it bothered her, but she certainly didn't need a guard dog next to her snarling at Sirius every time she turned around, either.

She stretched out on the warm grass beside the lake, staring up at the sky. This was one of the last days she would be able to do this, with fall always coming so soon after the return to school, and the rain and cold coming with it. Not that she minded the rain too much, but Madam Pomfrey didn't like having to deal with her health after she frolicked through the rain and it was probably best not to aggravate the matron as much as possible.

Footsteps in the grass. The rustling was too big to be a cat, too small to be something that would eat her, and too deliberate to be anything but human. Jade opened her eyes and looked up to find Sirius Black standing over her. She very nearly groaned, but as she was in such a vulnerable position it wasn't worth trying to dodge him. He knew she'd seen him. He knew she was awake. He knew she wasn't in a rush to be anywhere. It would be impolite and immature to attempt to bolt.

"What are you doing?" he said, amused.

"What does it look like?" Jade drawled, closing her eyes again. She quickly realized this was a mistake because she underestimated Sirius's ability to move quickly. He might not be a Quidditch player like his best friend, but years of dodging teachers had taught him a thing or two and he had maneuvered his way to her side on the grass in about a second. She didn't realize this, though, until his soft lips pressed to hers.

As Jade's head was on the ground there was no backing away from the kiss, so she tried to turn her lips away from his reach, but Sirius grabbed her chin and continued to impose himself upon her lips.

Maybe the rumors were true and he was as experienced as everyone seemed to think he was, or maybe his natural air of confidence just spilled into everything he did, including kissing, but he had the bearings of someone who knew exactly what he was doing and knew exactly how to get what he wanted.

Although, if he was going for some sort of response in Jade, it wasn't occurring, and clearly frustrated by this, even when he pressed his tongue forcefully into her mouth, he began trailing kisses down her neck instead.

All he succeeded in doing was making her squirm uncomfortably. It tickled.

"Do you like that," he whispered as he continued down her neck, attempting to undo her robes and get to the shirt underneath.

Was he thinking that he could just undress her in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds in broad daylight? Not that she was keen on letting someone undress her at all.

"Not particularly," she answered. "But it tickles."

He groaned.

"Alexander, what does it take to please you? Honestly, help me out here, I'm completely at a loss. I've never had this hard of a time getting a girl to fall for me."

She blinked.

Honestly, it never took him longer than a couple of weeks, or was he thinking that the previous ten years were attempts at seducing her? Because either way, he was ridiculously unrealistic. None of those girls even loved him, anyway, they thought he looked pretty and they wanted to be with a "bad boy". James Potter, King of Hogwarts, had been obviously off-limits and uninterested since the day he first declared his undying love for the exasperated Lily Evans years ago, so all the girls that might have gone for him instead went for his more-attractive best friend.

"I don't know," Jade said honestly, going back to ignoring him. Sirius, however, didn't like to be ignored.

"What do you mean you don't know? You don't know what you like? That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not," she sighed. "I don't know what it would take for me to fall in love with you or anyone else because I've never fallen in love, I've never thought about falling in love, and so it's not like I have a ready wealth of information ready to share or some sort of checklist I'm waiting to check off."

He gave an exasperated sigh. Then he moved his mouth so that his lips were lingering right over her ear.

"What does Regulus think about you talking to me?" he whispered.

"He hates it," she said honestly, "but it's not like either of us can stop you talking to me ever again, can we?"

"Like you want to," he hissed.

Jade pondered that a moment. Did she want Sirius to stop talking to her or not? It wasn't that he'd ever really talked to her much before she became engaged to his brother. Since he finally had starting talking to her it was more accosting than talking, and she couldn't deny she wanted the accosting to stop. She wasn't sure about talking itself, but Jade was starting to get the feeling that with Sirius Black she wasn't going to get one without the other.

She gasped when he took the tender skin of her ear between his teeth and tugged it a little. Apparently he took this gesture of surprise as an indication of pleasure and began to run in tongue along the shell of her ear. Jade actually rolled her eyes.

"I'm going inside, Sirius," she said calmly. "Please leave me alone."

"What if I don't want to?" he said, teasing her, probably thinking it was cute or attractive or sexy or whatever word girls were using to describe him. Jade just found it tiresome. She didn't really have radar for cute or attractive or sexy behavior.

"Then I'd have to say you're not a three-year-old. Go find some other toy to entertain yourself with. I'm sure it won't be difficult for you."

She opened her eyes to see him actually pouting.

"Merlin, Sirius," she groaned, "will you just bugger off?"

He seemed so surprised by her outburst that he backed away slightly, giving her the opening she needed to scramble to her feet and run back to the castle, down toward the Hufflepuff common room, except… except…

Except she didn't want to go to the common room. She wanted to be alone. Or at least, not around the Hufflepuffs. It wasn't that she didn't like the Hufflepuffs. They were very good company, better than most of the rest of the school, even if all they did was carry on their own conversations and pretend she didn't exist… but somehow even that wouldn't be alone enough.

So she just kept wandering until she found herself down toward the dungeons, still wandering, and there was a pack of people down the hall.

"Jade?"

It was Regulus.

Of course it was Regulus. She just shook off one brother, so naturally she would have to have a run in with the other. She didn't even bother sighing as he broke off from his group and rushed down the hall toward her.

"Jade, what's wrong?" he asked. "You're upset."

She didn't fight as he wrapped his arms around her, and found that she actually felt a bit calmer as he hugged her to his chest.

"Love?" he whispered gently. "What's wrong?"

"Can't you make him leave me alone?" she said without thinking.

It was what she wanted, wasn't it? For Sirius to leave her alone. But…. But she hadn't thought about what Regulus might take those words to mean, what his anger and jealousy might drive him to do… For it had been very clear that Sirius's behavior toward Jade made the otherwise coolheaded Regulus absolutely rage with jealousy.

"Is Sirius bothering you again?" he whispered, although Jade could hear the strain of fury in his voice.

This made her truly think about what he might do if she told the truth, but could she lie to Regulus? He had never been anything but good to her, and he had flat out said things that he didn't want to say because he didn't want to keep the truth from her, even if he could have simply not answered rather than lied. What right did she have to lie to someone who treated her so well?

"Yes, but it's nothing," she said. "I'm probably overreacting because he's getting on my nerves. I'm sorry for being so dramatic."

He narrowed his eyes and frowned down at her. Jade could tell he was trying to decide how to interpret her statement, how to understand his brother's actions and how they had been received by her.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" he said finally.

Jade blinked.

They hadn't really done anything as a couple, and this certainly sounded like a 'couple' sort of action. Did she want to? Did she want to seem to being so compliant to having her future decided for her?

On the other hand, her father had impressed upon her the importance of the marriage, and the importance of keeping Regulus happy, and if she was being fully honest with herself she wanted to spend more time with him. After all, he was nothing if not a gentleman with her, and she couldn't help but be intrigued and pleased with this.

"All right," she said with a little nod, allowing him to lead her up the stairs, back out to the grounds, for a walk, presumably around the lake.

"I'm sorry, again," he said slowly as they got about a third of the way around the lake. "I'm sorry I didn't ask your permission in this whole thing. That was wrong of me."

"I'm not mad at you," she said honestly. "Not anymore. I'm upset with my parents for not informing me of the arrangement, at least, even if they did not wish to ask my opinion of the match even as a show of keeping me involved. You were perfectly within your rights to request the match and your parents were perfectly within their rights to set up the match, and even though I hate to admit it, my parents were perfectly within theirs to agree to the match, with or without my approval or knowledge."

Regulus frowned, stopping to sit down on the grass and motioning for Jade to take a seat beside him, which she did.

"It shouldn't be that way," he said slowly. "I mean, you shouldn't have to think of your desire to be included as ridiculous. I should have at least tried to talk to you properly before going about the match, and maybe my parents didn't have an obligation to inform you, but yours really ought to have done. You shouldn't have been taken so much by surprise when the engagement was announced."

"But what's done is done," she said in monotone, "and everyone acted well within their rights. It really doesn't matter at this point and I don't know why we keep rehashing it."

Regulus sighed and said, "Because you're not happy, Jade. It's okay, you know, not being happy about how things happened. You were wronged, and just because the rest of the world doesn't recognize it as wrong doesn't make it any less so. It's all right for you to be upset about it, to blame me or your parents, or whoever. I just hope you can find it in you to forgive me, because everything I did I did because I absolutely love and adore you."

She smiled a little and looked up at him.

"I know, Regulus," she said, and she did know. At this point, there was no doubt in Jade's mind that for whatever the reason, Regulus would give her the moon if he could find a way to do so, if she ever expressed a desire to possess it. And she surprised herself by reaching out to touch his face, her fingertips grazing his cheek and surprising her with the warm tingling sensation it caused to touch his skin in such a way.

Regulus's eyelids flickered closed at the sensation, his lips parting slightly as she continued to brush her fingertips down his cheek and releasing a small sigh. She wasn't sure exactly what was causing this reaction in him, but she could tell he was enjoying her action, for whatever reason, and she liked that she had the power to do that to him. When his eyes opened again several seconds after her fingertips had traced off the edge of his chin and into the air, away from his face once more, his eyes were a bit darker than normal and he inched a little bit closer to her.

"Jade," he whispered, "do that again."

"Do what?" she asked, suddenly nervous, realizing she had unexpectedly stepped into entirely unknown territory, and she could barely contain her amazement when Regulus gently took her by the wrist, lifting her fingers to his face once more. Without any further prompting, she gently stroked his cheek and he leaned into her touch. It felt like stroking an owl or cat, except stroking fur or feathers didn't make her blush like stroking his soft skin did. This time his eyes did not close and she could almost feel her skin crawling in the most pleasant sort of ways as he watched her hungrily.

"Regulus," she began, unsure of how she was going to finish, but Regulus made up her mind for her once more, moving even closer so that his lips were suddenly pressed to hers, not with the same urgency or demand as the kisses she had previously received from the Black brothers, but with gentle, coaxing strokes, as if begging for her permission and yet being unable to contain himself. Jade had no idea what she was doing, but she enjoyed of the feel of their lips moving together, and so she tried to continue it, tried to keep him from pulling away.

He moaned against her lips, pulling her body a bit closer to his by her waist. She could feel the breath leaving her body as she realized the position they were in, and how she didn't really mind it.

"Regulus," she whispered, pulling back her head slightly, his lips landing on her chin. "Regulus."

He pulled back abruptly, eyes wide as he looked down at her.

"Oh, Jade, I'm sorry, I didn't mean – I mean, I didn't… I – I wanted that to be more… more special. I'm sorry."

Jade just blinked, unable to puzzle out for a moment what he was apparently so sorry for. Then she realized that he was missing her meaning entirely and she leaned forward once more, pressing her lips to his, taking him entirely by surprise. It didn't take long for him to melt against her lips once more, however, absolutely no fight or protest in him. After all, he had probably wanted this kiss, thinking of it, far longer than Jade could have ever thought to consider it.

When they finally did pull away from each other, Jade rested her head on Regulus's chest, listening to his soft, gentle heartbeat, thinking about the taste of his lips as his fingertips explored her forearm.

She had kissed him. She hadn't merely accepted his kiss or even returned his kiss. She had actively kissed Regulus Black. Her fiancé. The man she was sort of cuddling with on the grass of the Hogwarts grounds.

So what did that mean? Had their relationship changed? Or had it merely progressed in some way? After all, if they were going to be married she would probably have had to kiss him at some point anyway.

But she hadn't had to. There was no one watching, no expecting eyes. In fact, Regulus had been apologizing for pushing her further than he'd meant to and she cut off his pointless apology with a kiss. That must have meant she'd wanted to do it.

Jade shifted to look up at Regulus, who was smiling down at her, and she couldn't help but think he probably felt as though he'd won. Won what? He was already engaged to her. Yes, she thought, but there was Sirius.

What about Sirius? When Sirius tried to kiss her she wanted to hit him upside the head with blunt objects or heavy books. When Regulus had kissed her… The two were completely incomparable.

She didn't know what possessed her to do it, but Jade rolled over onto her stomach, rested her chin on his chest, and looked up at Regulus. Her hand was resting on his chest as well, and she was hardly surprised when one of his hands reached out to cover hers, then laced his fingers in hers. His other hand moved to her hair, running his fingers gently through the strands of her hair.

"I wish," he whispered, "that we could just stay here. I wish I didn't have to go back into that school and puff myself up and not be around you as much as I'd like and pretend to be the perfect little Black heir. I wish I didn't have to go off and become a Death Eater or do something else to bring glory to my family. I wish I could just stay here, with you, and forget about all the expectations Sirius's leaving has put on me."

Jade looked up at him, understanding he was sad, though not quite understanding why, and she said, "Me too."

His smile returned in full force, and Jade felt inexplicably proud of herself.


	4. You Could Become

By October, Sirius had yet to give up his ridiculous quest of "making" Jade "love" him, and Regulus was getting to the point of actually thinking out ways to slit his brother's throat. Jade found it all rather tiresome, although as soon as she discovered that Regulus would be distracted from his vicious plotting as soon as she kissed him, she utilized this method frequently.

It had the added bonus of making Sirius irate, if he was in the vicinity.

"You know," Regulus muttered one day after a kiss, "sometimes I think you only kiss me to distract me."

"Distract you from what?" she said softly, as innocently as she could muster.

"I don't remember," he chuckled, leaning down to kiss her once more.

They hadn't progressed any further, though, physically or emotionally, and when the sign went up for the first Hogsmeade weekend, Regulus approached her the following morning at breakfast and asked her incredibly politely if she would go with him, or if she had other plans.

Of course, Jade had no other plans. She never had plans for Hogsmeade, so she said she'd be happy to go with him. It wasn't, however, her only offer that day, and she would have honestly been surprised if it had been. It wasn't even lunch when Sirius cornered her in the hall.

"Go to Hogsmeade with me, Alexander," he said, backing her toward the wall.

"No," she said simply. "I've got plans."

"Don't lie," he said with a laugh. "You never have plans. I've seen you, wandering the High Street alone…"

"Yes, I know," Jade said coldly. "You would trip me on a regular basis. Just leave me alone, Sirius, please. I really do have plans."

"With my brother, right?" he hissed, the area just above his upper lip twitching to one side.

"Why would you expect otherwise?" Jade sighed. "Look, Sirius, why can't you just stop this? Just because you're happy to be rid of your family and the old ways doesn't mean the rest of us are so eager to forget where we came from."

"Is that what this is about?" he hissed. "Are you afraid of angering your parents?"

"No," she said honestly. "I just don't wish to. I didn't have a rebellious streak, Sirius, and I doubt I'm going to sprout one out of nowhere."

"Damn it, Alexander, why can't you just see that I can give you more than him?"

Jade rolled her eyes.

"Leave me alone, Sirius," she sighed. "I don't want or need anything you can offer me and I'm certainly not going to throw away what I already have for things I don't particularly want."

"You're going to get yourself killed," he called as she went to walk away. "If you marry him I can't promise you anything."

She couldn't help but laugh at that.

"And you, Sirius?" she said, turning back to look at him. "You're awfully bold for someone joining the side that's horribly outnumbered. It's a war, Sirius, nobody's guaranteed to live no matter which side they're on, no matter which side wins or loses. You might think it should matter to me, but I don't care! Nothing changes for me no matter what the outcome of this war, Sirius."

He stared at her for a moment as if seeing her for the first time, then shook his head.

"Wow," he finally spat out. "Wow, I can't believe I wasted all these years hung up on you. Have no you sense of right and wrong?"

"What's the point?" she laughed. "When have I ever needed one? My whole life is decided for me anyway. What does it matter?"

Sirius just shook his head, entirely unsympathetic.

"You don't think for yourself," he said, disgusted. "I thought you had a mind of your own, that you didn't take the abuse of our society, that you were willing to stand up for yourself, but I guess not. You were never the girl I thought you were, Alexander. You're just like all the others, pretty, but no substance."

As he walked away Jade stood there, staring after him.

Was that true? Did she not have substance? If it was true, why did Regulus love her? Perhaps it was why Lucius had chosen Narcissa, why Bellatrix had chosen Rodolphus: they could be in control. Their partner was so shallow, so easily manipulated, that they never had to worry about being king of their castle (or queen, in Bellatrix's case). Had Regulus's sweet words really just been him manipulating simply little Jade Alexander, the pretty girl with no substance?

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she made her way down toward lunch, but she didn't think she could handle being in the Great Hall with both of them, knowing they were both thinking about what a silly little girl she was.

"Jade?"

Ah, of course, there was Regulus. Right on cue. Just when she thought she wanted to be alone, he always figured out where she was and how to find her and make her feel secure. But Jade didn't want to feel secure, or to have him make her feel secure, until she'd figured out how she felt and what she thought about what Sirius had accused her of.

"Jade, what's wrong, love?"

"Don't," she said, turning away toward the kitchens, anxious to get away from him.

Regulus, however, grabbed her arm, firmly but not harshly, and stopped her.

"Don't what?"

"Regulus, please," she said softly, "let go of me and don't cause a scene."

"What did Sirius do?" he hissed. She could almost feel the heat of his anger radiating off his very skin.

"Why do you always assume it's Sirius?" she said angrily, turning to face him. "Can you do nothing wrong? Can I not just have a bad day? Sirius isn't the devil, you know, despite how your mother would like to think of him. He's not responsible for all of the bad things that happen, and me just not walking to talk to you every now and then isn't necessarily something bad!"

Jade suddenly realized she was not only shrieking at him, but that she was also crying, and rather violently. Regulus was watching her with wide, pained eyes. Gray eyes, just like his brother's, the same eyes that had just looked at her and told her she was a pretty little thing without substance, the same eyes that had just made her feel so… so… she couldn't even find the word but it felt horrible, whatever it was.

"Jade," Regulus said softly, "would you rather eat in the kitchens?"

She might have nodded. She couldn't tell, but it seemed logical, considering the state she was in and the fact that Regulus practically carried her off to the kitchens, settling her in his lap and asking the house-elves quite politely for food. In fact, if Jade had been very much in her right mind she would have appreciated the kindness with which Regulus always treated house-elves, one of his many great qualities, even the house-elves that were the least easy to get on with, like his own.

When she'd sobbed and hiccoughed herself into something resembling calm, Regulus brushed his thumb across her chin and whispered, "What happened, darling?"

Jade leaned forward, burying her face in his chest and muttering, "Sirius and I got into a fight."

Regulus wrapped his strong arms around her, one hand petting her hair gently.

"Tell me what he said."

The 'and I'll rip out his throat' wasn't tacked onto the end of his words, but it hung on the air all the same, but Jade wasn't really in any condition to notice such a subtlety.

"He – we…. We had a fight about our parents and futures and… and he told me that I'm pretty but I have no substance and he looked quite disappointed with me."

Regulus blinked.

Had Jade not been quite so out of sorts because of the comments of Sirius had made in anger and frustration Regulus might have been quite pleased with the fact that it seemed very much that Sirius had given up on Jade ever becoming his. However, Jade was quite disturbed by the words, as though she actually believed them, and Regulus kissed her forehead gently.

"Jade, he was just frustrated when he said those things. Even if he thought he meant them, they're not true. But Sirius is guided by impulses rather than reason and I doubt he really meant them, anyway."

"But… but what if it's true?" she sobbed.

"Jade, don't listen to him," Regulus whispered. "You're beautiful, intelligent, and you've got a very, very good heart. Just because you don't see the need to follow him and give up everything you've ever cared about because he claims to love you doesn't mean you don't have substance. If you didn't have substance, you would just a receptacle for other people's ideas, and you would have ended up in Slytherin like everyone you grew up around, but you didn't. You're a Hufflepuff."

He kissed her forehead and said, "And if he loved you, he wouldn't have hurt you like this, and I know he said it to hurt you on purpose. He may have thought he loved you, but I don't think Sirius understands love yet."

Jade sniffed, looking up at her.

"And you do?"

Regulus nodded solemnly.

"It's how I feel about you," he whispered. "It's the feeling I get when I see you, it's the wanting to be around you and to protect you and to make you happy, no matter what that means for me. If you ever decided you wanted him, as scared and lonely as I would feel, I wouldn't stop you, if he made you happy."

"He doesn't," Jade said, still too distraught to really process Regulus's words. "He makes me uncomfortable and frustrated and right now he's made me very… very… Oh, I don't know."

"Distraught," Regulus offered.

She nodded.

"Well," he whispered, "I can't say I'm not glad you don't want him. Now I just wish I knew a way to make you want me."

The sadness in his voice as he said those words made Jade look into his eyes and wonder what it felt like, this love he talked of.

"I do want you," she said softly, just realizing it herself, "just… just not necessarily quite how you want me to, yet, but I do want you."

He smiled a little, biting his lip as though considering something. It took Jade a moment to realize that he was trying to decide whether this would be a bad time to kiss her or not, so she leaned forward and made up his mind for him, pressing her lips against his. She'd not only grown used to this, but she rather liked the feel of his lips on hers.

In fact, Jade realized as she discovered that her fingers had found their way to his hair and were exploring, it felt incredibly good, their mouths working together, exploring each other, and when his mouth separated to explore her neck, she actually rather enjoyed it. In fact, she let out a sigh that she hadn't noticed building up inside her until she heard it escape her lips. The sigh merely encouraged Regulus, not that Jade was complaining, and his hands held her at the waist, holding her torso tight against his.

"Jade," he moaned against her neck, "I love you so much."

What was she supposed to say to that? That she knew he did? It was true, but somehow didn't seem like the best thing to say, and quite honestly her brain was a bit fuzzy in that moment, and she was struggling for air, much less words. She turned her head a bit when his actions began to tickle her neck and she saw that the house-elves had left the food on the table, politely not interrupting the interaction between them. She smiled a little, absently mussing up Regulus's hair a bit with her fingertips.

"Regulus," she said, blushing a bit when she realized the word came out as a sigh, "they've brought our food."

At first, he didn't react, seemingly not hearing her or not registering her words. She moved a bit and kissed the shell of his ear before whispering, "Food's here, Regulus."

He shivered a bit, but seemed to hear her this time, and that was the main goal. Regulus looked down at the food, nodded, swallowed and said, "Sorry, I was… I mean, I… Let's eat."

Jade laughed, sliding off his lap into the chair beside him.

They continued to be more or less happy, although Jade was on edge, sure Sirius hadn't fully quit his advances, and she dressed for Hogsmeade a few days later with shaking hands. It was not only her first date, but it was her first date with her fiancé, someone who said they loved her. But she also knew that Sirius would be there, not on her date but at Hogsmeade, and she couldn't get over the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

She slid on the sky blue sweater dress she had gotten the year before on a whim, examining herself in the mirror. She drew her blonde hair up into a bun, turned to the side to examine it, and decided she would rather have it down, taking it down again and pinning it up on one side. Regulus liked her hair, to play with it, and she didn't want to deny him the opportunity.

The other girls in Jade's dorm were getting ready for dates with other boys, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and one girl was even going steady with a Ravenclaw, but they stayed away from Jade. Even more now that she was engaged to Regulus, she was a bit of a pariah. Sirius was right about one thing, it was widely known that Regulus would be siding with the Death Eaters, if not becoming one of them.

Jade met Regulus in the entrance hall, taking his arm as she had done with his brother at dozens of parties growing up: without really thinking about it. They strolled down the grounds, out of the gates, off to the village of Hogsmeade.

"How are you this morning?" he asked gently, trying to start off the day with a conversation that didn't feel forced, but Jade couldn't help but think there was no hope for an unforced conversation to start with.

"I'm feeling quite fine, thank you," she said honestly. "You should have seen the way my dorm mates looked at me this morning. I think they thought I was going to curse them all when their backs were turned."

He frowned, confused.

"What?"

"Oh, well, they're all afraid of me anyway, being of Slytherin breed. But the fact that I'm dating you worries them even more."

Regulus laughed, shaking his head.

"What's so scary about me?" he asked.

"You're going to be a Death Eater," she said as casually as such a thing could be said. "Everyone knows it."

He didn't make any effort to deny it or acknowledge it at all. For a moment, Jade was worried about having brought it up, worried that she would put him on the defensive. Finally, when they were approaching the village and he asked, "And how do you feel about it? Are you scared of me too?"

"No," she said honestly, before she really had a chance to think about it. "No, I'm not scared of you but…"

"But what?" he asked, turning her to face him, his expression as unreadable as it had been before he ever confessed his love.

"I'm scared," she whispered, "of what you could become."

Regulus looked at her, completely unreadable for a moment, before reaching out with his hand and touching her cheek, leaning in and resting his forehead on hers.

"I promise you," he said, "that I will do everything I can to never become something that ever makes you afraid or unloved. And if you ever start to find yourself afraid of me, I beg you to tell me, to help me change."

Her chest did something strange, but whatever it was felt incredibly good, and she nodded into his hand, allowing him to press his lips to hers. For a moment, it was like the world was spinning and she couldn't understand why this kiss felt so superior to all the prior ones, but she didn't want it to stop. Then, he pulled away, lacing his fingers in hers, the gesture feeling far more intimate that the formal joining they'd been enacting previously. She liked it. Jade liked the feel of Regulus's rough hand engulfing hers and the feel of his thumb gently caressing the back of her hand.

"Come on," he said, leading her off to the familiar village of Hogsmeade, where she knew they would go about their familiar things, living their familiar lives, and so on. She realized that Regulus hadn't said anything really about what he thought his future held for him, but in fairness to him, she hadn't really asked.

She ought to ask, she ought to know what would be expected of her, as his wife, so that she had time to get used to the idea, but Jade couldn't do it. She told herself there was no point asking that day, to spoiling a perfectly lovely first date.

They strolled together onto the High Street and Jade was starting to get comfortable with the idea of being on a date with her fiancé. She shouldn't have felt too comfortable, however, for it was the beginning of a long, arduous day, and not at all what either of them could have imagined for their first date together.

It all started going downhill when Jade's name, or rather surname, was called out by the voice of none other than Sirius Black from up the street, and he looked ready for a fight.


	5. Halfway Open

He really had asked for the punch in the face as far as Jade was concerned, and she might have done it herself if Regulus hadn't been quite so quick to act.

Sirius had called out to her, stumbling toward them, clearly a bit drunk, although Jade knew enough about Sirius to know that he could function quite well with alcohol in his system. Rumors of the Gryffindor parties reached all corners of Hogwarts.

"Alexander," he slurred when he came closer to them, "what are you doing with this scum? I told you to stay away from him."

"Walk away, Sirius," Regulus said softly, making great effort to keep his temper in check, "before you embarrass yourself."

Sirius didn't know how to take a hint, apparently, and got right up into Regulus's face. Regulus, in response to this aggressive behavior, pulled Jade behind him and released her hand, probably in case he had to have both hands ready.

"What possessed you to agree to this marriage, little brother?" Sirius hissed. "Was it the idea that you would get the Alexander fortune, or was it the idea that you would get to have her sweet body whenever you wanted? It seems I underestimated you."

"You don't want to do this, Sirius," Regulus said softly. "You're drunk and you're bitter and you're going to make bad choices if you don't walk away right now."

"Tell me, was it worth it?" Sirius growled, clearly not listening and beginning to cause a scene. "Is her body as good as you hoped it was? I'm sure she'll make you dozens of little Black family heirs to serve your fucking Dark Lord. Who knows, maybe you can offer up her body to him as a token of your loyalty. If he's still got all his parts I'm sure it would gain you a fair amount of status in their little cult."

The punch came flying out of nowhere, and there were many gasps as Regulus's fist collided with Sirius's jaw. The ever-calm Regulus cried, "If you ever talk about her like that again I'll rip you limb from limb", and Sirius stumbled backward, clutching his jaw, sobering quickly with surprise. A crowd began to gather around the three of them, eager for some sort of brawl, but Sirius was so shocked that his little brother had actually hit him that no retaliation came. The boys just stood there for a moment, considering each other while Sirius blinked and Regulus silently fumed, and Jade stood behind Regulus, not entirely sure what to do.

"Did you just hit me?" Sirius asked, clearly dazed.

"I don't know," Regulus said dryly, "what does it feel like?"

Sirius touched his jaw, then looked down at his fingertips, then touched his jaw again.

"That was completely unexpected," Sirius muttered, more to himself than anyone remotely nearby. "I mean, James told me this was a bad idea, but I don't think this was what he had in mind."

Jade snorted. Even Potter had told him to give up, and yet there he was, still trying to get what he couldn't have.

"I don't have the time or energy to deal with your stupidity, Sirius," Regulus hissed. "I promised Jade a nice day. Come on, love," he said to her, holding out his had that hadn't hit Sirius's face, and Jade instantly grabbed the other, watching him wince as she squeezed it very lightly.

"Wow," she muttered so that no one else could hear but him. "I can't believe you just broke your hand on your brother's face. That was a bit less manly than I thought."

"Sorry," Regulus sighed. "Next time I'll do better."

They began walking off in the other direction when they heard the first explosion.

Regulus froze, pulling Jade close to him, looking around for the cause of the disruption. When the Dark Mark went up over a house in the distance and another explosion occurred, Jade could feel her heart pounding in her ears, and she barely noticed that she was squeezing Regulus's broken hand. He didn't notice either. He had turned back to Sirius.

"Well, well, looks like your buddies spoiled your date better than I ever could," Sirius hissed. "Did you know they were going to crash Hogsmeade today?"

"Obviously not," Regulus snarled. "Listen, Sirius, I know it's a lot to ask of you, drunk or no, but I need to get Jade out of here!"

"What," Sirius drawled, amused, "don't want to introduce your darling fiancée to our crazed cousin so soon?"

Jade had met Bellatrix, but she thought he meant as Regulus's fiancée. She wasn't sure what would happen if they stayed, but she felt certain that whatever it was wouldn't be agreeable for her, or it seemed, Regulus. For someone Sirius claimed was so eager to become a Death Eater, Regulus was quite keen to get away.

"Sirius," Regulus sighed, "this isn't about you and me. If you ever loved Jade like you claimed, even just a little bit, you would help me get her out of here!"

Sirius seemed to sober up as a much closer explosion sounded and he pulled out his wand.

"Swear secrecy."

"Anything," Regulus sighed.

"In the Honeydukes cellar," Sirius hissed, "there's a passageway, trapdoor, leads back to the castle. Get her out of here or I'll kill you with my bare hands, brother."

Regulus nodded, not even bothering to thank Sirius as he grabbed Jade's hand and rushed her towards Honeydukes as fast as their feet could take them. Once inside, it wasn't too difficult to get into the cellar, what with all of the chaos going on in the village. Regulus and Jade looked down at the floor, searching for the trap door Sirius had told them about.

"You don't think he made it up, do you?" Regulus said, panic in his voice.

Jade wondered exactly what he was so scared of, if his cousin was there. She would spare him, of course. Wouldn't she? Bellatrix wasn't that crazy… was she?

"No," she muttered, kneeling to look closer at the boards. "No, he wouldn't make something like that up. It's a matter of pride for him, being able to give information like that whenever it comes up. Ah, here it is."

She lifted the trap door, revealing the passage, and looked up at Regulus who was watching her with guarded eyes.

"What?" she said, confused.

"You know him so much better than I do," he whispered. "I just… I can't help but think that maybe he's not right. Maybe you two should–"

"Stop talking rubbish and come on," she groaned, grabbing his arm and pulling him down into the passageway, pulling the trap door closed over them.

"Wait," Regulus hissed, "that's my bad hand."

"Do you want me to fix it?" Jade whispered, unnerved that she couldn't see him.

"Can you?"

"I've broken enough bones, I know how the spell works now. I'll need a light, though."

"Okay." There was a bit of a sound as he searched his robes and then he whispered, "_Lumos_" and Jade could see a limited amount in the tunnel we were in.

Jade took his hand in hers, pointed her wand and it and said, "_Episkey_."

"Good," he muttered, testing his hand. "Let's go."

He took her hand in his, leading her away down the passageway, but she got tired and asked to stop, so they took a rest in the passageway, sitting down on the cold, hard ground, but Regulus pulled her close and wrapped his jacket around her

"Regulus, I'm scared," she whispered. "Did you know about this?"

"No," he said firmly, hugging her tightly. "No, I never would have taken you. I would have kept you at the castle. I would never put you in danger, Jade, I promise."

She believed that, but she felt a bit sick, thinking about the way he was willing to put himself in that same danger he swore he'd never put her in.

"Would you have been involved, had I not been there?" she whispered, allowing him to wrap her tighter, hold her closer. It felt nice.

"I don't know," he said after a brief hesitation. "I would have tried to stay out of it. I haven't joined them yet, they couldn't have really expected me to put my schooling at risk when I'd yet to have joined, but Bella would have tried. I might have given in, but not if you wouldn't want me to."

It didn't make sense to Jade, that Regulus wouldn't give up that path if she wanted him to, but that he would do what he could do avoid it if she wanted him to. But she knew him well enough that he would never let down his family by avoiding the life of a Death Eater. Because of Bellatrix, because of Lucius Malfoy, it would have been shameful to his parents for him to avoid it, especially after Sirius leaving the family altogether.

Come to think of it, Jade's parents would have been disappointed, too. They'd never outright said it, but she knew they wanted her to marry someone who was close with the Death Eaters from the moment they started discussing the group with their friends at cocktail parties. They had been nothing but approving from the very beginning, and Walburga's verbal support did nothing but strengthen that viewpoint.

Jade hadn't actually thought much about it herself, what she thought of the whole thing. She supposed she didn't like the idea of killing people for any reason. She supposed she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of hunting Muggles and Muggleborns for sport.

"Jade," he said softly, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said, almost without thinking about it. "None of it was your fault, anyway. We should probably get back to the castle and-"

What she was going to say next fled from her mind as Regulus pressed his lips to hers, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her deeper into the kiss. Was kissing supposed to make your head spin? Was being held like that supposed to make your knees give way? If that was the case, Regulus was doing a very good job indeed, Jade decided.

She grasped at his shoulders, trying to hold on, to not fall to her knees with delicious weakness, and yet Regulus also seemed unsteady. They swayed together and he slowly brought them down to a sitting position on the hard ground of the passageway, Regulus pulling her onto his lap, Jade not even caring. Nobody was there to see. Nothing would leave that spot, she knew it. All she wanted was to feel him, taste him... more... Why had she never done this before?

Probably because nobody had ever offered, but the point was still the same.

Regulus seemed to be enjoying it as much as she was, because he buried his fingers in her hair, pulling her as close as he could manage, moaning into her mouth. That felt even better, Jade realized, allowing his tongue to explore her mouth, interacting with it timidly. It felt strange, but a good sort of strange, an enticing sort of strange that assured her that she would do it again, given the chance.

One of Regulus's hands moved from her hair to her waist, but it was twitchy and nervous, like he wanted to do something with it but wasn't sure.

Jade was surprised when Regulus began twitching his fingers under the hem of her shirt, exploring the bits of skin he could reach, but she was even more surprised that she wasn't offended or angered by his actions. In fact, most surprising of all, it felt good, and she wanted his fingers to explore more of her. She gasped, feeling him move his hands ever upwards as though reading her mind, reaching her ribcage and hesitating there, moving his lips from her mouth to her neck as he hesitated, lingering, obviously deciding whether it would be too hasty to move upward. Jade moved her hands to his, moving them upward for him.

It didn't take much coaxing to get him to touch her, to squeeze her through her basic satiny bra that she was feeling suddenly self-conscious about.

Jade had never seen the point in fancy knickers and bras. Nobody was ever going to see them except for her and the house-elf who did her laundry. But suddenly as Regulus was somehow convincing her without trying too hard to press on all of her boundaries and give in to things she'd never considered before, she was feeling like she needed something more suitable to what she was doing.

That thought was quickly pushed aside, however, when he retracted his hands, causing her to whimper at the loss, but she could feel him doing something... could hear the faint rustling.

When his hands took hers and directed them to his own chest she gasped at the feel of his bare skin on his fingertips. She had known Sirius was muscular. He liked to show it off. What she hadn't realized was that Regulus was also incredibly fit. Jade's hands and fingers began to explore his soft skin of their own accord and she felt a rush of pride when he moaned deeply.

Jade didn't have long to relish her victorious feeling of pleasing him, though, because her mind became muddled when his hands found the hem of her shirt and he whispered, "May I?"

Not sure she knew exactly what he was asking, she told him softly that he may, glad he couldn't see her blush when he gently took off her shirt. It was a bit cold in that tunnel, but Regulus didn't let her shiver long, pulling her body closer to his and kissing every bit of her he could find in the dark. He felt so warm, so wonderful.

"Regulus," she whispered.

"Mmm?" he moaned against her skin, the vibrations causing her to shiver for different reasons entirely.

"I... I don't know... I mean... This..."

"Do you want me to stop?" he breathed into the still air between them.

Her breath was heavy as she tried to think it over. This was the moment that was going to define her life moving forward, define their relationship and how she looked at it. Perhaps she ought to say no, to keep a bit of her personal dignity, in case the engagement somehow fell through.

"Please don't stop," she whispered, realizing that she'd crossed the line and there would be no going back. As his fingers fumbled in the dark with the clasp of her bra, Jade silently worked on coming to terms with what was happening, what she'd agreed to, what she was about to do. If her mother found out, they'd be married on the spot to avoid a scandal.

But Regulus wouldn't tell. And Jade wouldn't tell. So who would ever know?

Regulus managed to get the bra undone and slipped it off of her, lighting his wand and setting it off to the side so they could at least see each other's faces.

"Oh, Jade," he sighed, running his fingertips along her skin, tracing her breasts in a way that almost tickled, but not in a way she was used to. "You're so beautiful."

She, on the other hand, had become transfixed with how visibly fit he was and she touched his chest lightly once more, reveling in the firm beauty of his muscles in the dim light.

Jade couldn't really tell how they got from that point to their later actions, just that somehow their clothes had come off entirely and he kissed every bit of her skin to start with. She decided she liked the way their skin felt rubbing together and he pressed his lips to hers again. Regulus's hands were trembling as he moved one between her legs. Her first instinct was to keep him away, to stop whatever he was about to do, but he kissed her and murmured against her lips, "Relax, Jade. I'm not going to hurt you."

She believed him, forcing herself to relax, willingly parting her legs so that his fingers, grazing her thigh, could find their target in the almost-darkness. Jade gasped when he touched her in a place even she only touched when showering or bathing. It surprised her how good it felt when his fingers gently rubbed the area, even inserting into her. She felt slightly embarrassed when she realized that she was growing wet at his touch (was that supposed to happen?), but she quickly disregarded that thought and bit her lip as she began to just focus on how good it felt, his fingers working in and out of her.

She whispered his name without even realizing that she had at first. He responded by moaning softly and pumping his fingers ever more vigorously.

Jade could feel an unfamiliar feeling building up inside of her, and while the strangeness of it was worrying, the pleasure and euphoria of it over took that in waves and her body began trembling and moving without her thought or permission. Regulus seemed to notice the change in her and he increased the pace of his actions, pressing his lips to hers demandingly as the sensation exploded within her. He continued the thrusting of his fingers for a little bit, prolonging the incredible sensation, but eventually he removed his fingers and let her come down from what could only be described as her high.

"I want to do more," he whispered in her ear, "but now's not the right time. Was that okay, though?" Jade nodded, still dazed from the incredible rush of pleasure she'd just experienced. "I don't know if you want to wait until we know each other better, or until we're married," he whispered. "I do know it's going to hurt you a bit, but I'll try to make it as painless as possible."

Jade ran her fingers through his silky black hair because it felt like the natural thing to do.

"Will it hurt less if we wait?" she whispered.

"No," he sighed against her skin. "No, it won't change anything."

"Then we shouldn't bother waiting very long," she said, and he chuckled slightly, but then he kissed her and she couldn't have felt more thrilled about anything than she did at the thought of marrying Regulus Black someday.


	6. Tough Choices and a Tight Spot

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to **_**Majorjewls**_**, who has favorited this story. May you enjoy it very much. :D**

** -J**

Jade would have loved to have convinced herself that nothing in her life really changed after that day that turned out so differently than she had expected, fleeing Hogsmeade, being incredibly intimate with Regulus in a tunnel between Hogsmeade and the castle...

But that would have been a lie.

Regulus had become rather protective of her, staying by her side just about every second he could get away with and shooting angry glares at any boy who even glanced at her as he was on his way to looking at something else. So naturally, he and Sirius spent a lot of time glaring at each other from across various rooms and corridors. Sirius didn't even have to look at her, to be honest, he just had to be in the vicinity and Regulus just assumed that it was with impure intentions.

Once, though, he managed to find Jade alone, taking a walk around the Quidditch pitch just to get a bit of time to herself.

"So, you've shagged?" Sirius said, frowning at her like she was carrying a disease. "Too bad."

Jade shook her head fervently.

"No," she whispered. "No, we haven't. What makes you think that?"

"I thought he acted like he owned you when the engagement was announced, but now he's practically got you on a leash," Sirius said with dark eyes, moving a step toward Jade and frowning even deeper when she took a step away from him instinctively. "I'm not going to hurt you, Jade. You might want to worry about your lover, though. You saw what he did to my face."

She hesitated, wondering whether she wanted to bring up Regulus's hand. She decided not, thinking that would be the sort of things guys would get teased over.

"Does he treat you well?" Sirius demanded. "He doesn't hurt you or make you feel small or anything?"

"Of course not," Jade said softly.

"And he really wants to keep you out of this Death Eater stuff?" Sirius demanded.

"Yes."

Sirius nodded, looking at the ground thoughtfully.

"I've been thinking about it a lot," he sighed. "If you were with me, I wouldn't have the fortune he will to give you what you deserve. I'd be no better at shielding you from harm, since I plan to fight in the war too. You'd be even more of a target with me, I think. His side fights dirtier. Regulus was always a gentleman. It was always his greatest virtue." He looked up at Jade and she was shocked to find that his eyes were swimming with unshed tears. "I love you, Jade, no matter what you believe about me. But maybe this is what's better for you after all." He took her hand and looked at it in his, so small by comparison. Then he kissed her cheek gently and whispered, "If he ever hurts you, you let me know. I'll make sure he regrets it the rest of his life."

Jade couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"I'll leave you alone, then," he said softly. "I imagine I've not made things easy."

"No," she admitted. "No, you never have. I guess that's just your way."

Sirius smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, turning and walking away without another word.

Jade watched him go, feeling surprisingly good about how everything in her life felt. She'd never been particularly confident in her decisions, especially interpersonal ones, but watching Sirius walk away, thinking about the kisses she was going to receive from Regulus later, she felt right about something, for once.

When she found Regulus at lunch, however, he seemed a bit out of sorts.

"What's wrong?" she asked, slipping onto the bench beside him and lacing her fingers lovingly in his. That was one of her favorite feelings, she had decided, holding his hand.

"I received a letter," he said with a frown. "My cousin's engagement party is coming up."

"Oh," Jade said, trying to figure out how it was a bad thing. "I suppose we're going to have an engagement part at some point, too."

"Yes," Regulus said slowly. "Probably either over the summer or sometime next year. But that's not really important at the moment."

Jade frowned. If that wasn't what was on his mind, then what was?

He sighed when he looked at her puzzled face and he kissed her cheek lovingly.

"Oh, Jade," he said with a bitter sort of laugh. "I love how naive you can be. We are both expected at the engagement."

"Yes," Jade said slowly. "I mean, I didn't assume I was expected, but I thought it might be a fairly safe bet."

"Jade, Lucius Malfoy is going to be there."

"Yes," she said, still not understanding. "He is. He's the groom-to-be, after all."

"Jade, he's always wanted you."

Jade blinked.

"But he's marrying your cousin."

Regulus scoffed, laughing bitterly.

"Do you really think that's going to matter? I don't even know of a pureblood man who's faithful to his wife. I can't think of a one. And Lucius isn't even married to her yet. I'm just worried someone's going to try to give him a hand, let him have his fun with you before he gets married. Then he has to mind himself until he has a son, just to be safe."

Jade frowned deeply. Regulus didn't want to go to his cousin's engagement party because he was worried that Lucius was going to take advantage of Jade. Worse, he thought someone else would help the slimy man to do it. She'd never really paid much attention to the interactions between adults at the various pureblood events. They were always being so dull. Had there really been years of undertones of adultery and misbehavior that she'd somehow missed?

But there must have been, she knew, because Regulus never missed social cues. That was part of the advantage of everyone always worrying about Sirius, he was free to listen and watch without anyone hardly noticing he was there. She and Sirius had been fawned over and dragged into whatever was going whether they wanted the attention or not, being the respective heirs of their fortunes. Regulus had been free to observe instead, a luxury Jade wished she would have had. It hadn't been at all a good time, being forced to chat with every eligible bachelor at each party, just in case things fell through with Sirius.

She realized her parents never made her talk to Regulus. Perhaps they hadn't dreamed that Sirius would ever do anything to make him anything but the Black family heir. They certainly wouldn't have settled for anything less than the heir to one of the major families, which included the Blacks, the Malfoys, the Averys, the Selwyns, the Lestranges... There were a few of them, but certainly never enough with eligible sons.

Proper pureblooded families were a dying breed, Jade's mother had told her growing up. Even the Potters, one of the oldest families around and plenty wealthy, wouldn't have been acceptable for a marriage match despite having a son about her age. They didn't have proper wizarding feeling, apparently. They had Gryffindors in the family and willingly named them as heirs. They didn't even bother trying to remind James of the importance of pureblooded wizarding society, of the inferiority of Muggles.

Jade looked across the Great Hall at Lily Evans, the red-haired Gryffindor beauty. She was a Muggleborn. Not only that, but she was probably the prettiest, most talented witch Hogwarts had seen in years. When she saw things like that, Jade couldn't help but think that maybe blood didn't make so much of a difference. She'd struggled a fair amount herself when she started school, pure blood aside. Evans had been a natural from the very beginning according to even the most begrudging Slytherins. The Muggleborn was queen of Hogwarts, by all accounts, and the only thing that could make her even more solidified in that role was if she were to finally give in and date James Potter, one of the two shared kings of Hogwarts.

The other, of course, was Sirius Black, but Jade quickly pushed that thought aside. He'd relinquished his claims on her for good and being the one thinking about him wouldn't help move forward with Regulus.

"It will be fine," she said softly, kissing his cheek. "I trust that you'll think of something."

Regulus realized with a jolt that she'd kissed his cheek and he smiled at her, his whole face softening.

"I love you," he whispered, gently petting her hair once. "You know that?"

She nodded.

They finished the rest of the meal in silence, but Regulus's spirits seemed a bit higher, and that was really what mattered to Jade. Her mother had told her growing up that it was important to make her husband's life brighter and easier, and Jade thought she was getting a bit of decent practice in.

The engagement party was exactly as such things always were, except that Jade was expected to spend the majority of her time on Regulus's arm, being engaged to him. That difference wasn't so difficult, considering how pleasant she was finding his company, more and more each day.

"You look so lovely together," Jade's mother had cooed when the pair arrived together, and Jade smiled amiably as Regulus accepted the compliments as was his duty. That was, after all, her job.

What wasn't part of her job was being leered at by Lucius Malfoy. Granted, there he was, his arm around Regulus's cousin, Narcissa, his eyes scanning Jade's form as she continued to smile, pretending not to notice. Part of keeping Regulus calm in spite of Lucius's behavior was for Jade to remain calm. If she started to panic or behave as though she were uncomfortable, Regulus would act on that.

Walburga was present and Jade wished she wouldn't come up to them and chat, but of course she did.

"Well, it seems you have figured out how to appear like the happy, solid couple you are expected to be," she said to them.

"It's not appearance, mother," Regulus said boldly, smiling at Jade as he kissed her hand lovingly. Of course, Jade didn't have to force the smile that filled her to the core as she looked over at Regulus, even knowing that his mother was right there, judging them, expecting things from them, probably even grading everything about Jade from her behavior to her speech to the way she did herself up for the party.

"Of course, dear," Walburga said as though she didn't really believe him. "Just remember that this is Narcissa's big day. Yours will come soon enough, but don't forget that she's the queen of the hour."

"Of course," Jade said quickly.

"Absolutely," Regulus intoned at the same time.

Walburga seemed placated, for the moment at least. Jade held in her shiver as the horrible woman who would be her mother-in-law turned her back on them and wandered off to gossip with some other bitter old bat whose name Jade couldn't recall.

"When we get married," Jade said softly so that only Regulus could hear, "promise me we won't have to visit your mother more than once or twice a year at large events."

Regulus grinned, perking up almost instantly.

"Say that again," he whispered.

"Twice a year at large events?" Jade asked, confused.

"No," Regulus whispered, taking both of her hands in his and grinning like a fool. "The first bit."

Jade smiled back at him.

"When we get married," she whispered, blushing furiously as he lifted her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles lingeringly. They just looked at each other, forgetting for the moment his mother's warning about not upstaging Narcissa and Lucius's big day.

The reminder, however, arrived swiftly in the form of Narcissa and Lucius, arm on arm and smiling big, fake smiles.

"Congratulations," Regulus said promptly, dropping Jade's hands to shake Lucius's and kiss his cousin's cheek as was expected. Jade also kissed Narcissa and tried to see unfazed as Lucius took her hand and kissed it lingeringly right in front of Regulus, who took a deep breath to stabilize his own fake smile.

It was disturbing when Jade thought about it, how easily fake smiles could be summoned when you were raised on them. To most people, they would look real, but when you'd lived with them as long as Jade and Regulus had, you could tell the difference even with the best of the liars.

"Thank you, cousin," Narcissa said proudly, truly beaming, more from the pride of being the new Malfoy mistress than anything to do with Lucius, Jade knew. There was no love between the blonde pair, and it was more than evident in the way that Lucius rested his hand boldly on Jade's arse as they stood there in a little circle. Regulus was struggling to maintain his composure when he saw, but Jade couldn't fight away the flush in her cheeks as she struggled with her complete and utter embarrassment. What was she to do?

"Excuse me," she said as graciously as she could, "I think I need to go take care of something. Won't be a moment."

Making her way through the all-too-familiar Malfoy Manor to the loo, Jade tried to think of ways to avoid Lucius, to make things easier for Regulus, but she wasn't very good at planning things and she was even worse at improvisation. She thought she couldn't be any more panicked than when she turned and saw Lucius walk right through the door, close it behind him, effectively cornering her in the loo of his own home.

"I thought you might like some help, you know, taking care of things," he said with a smirk.

In a way, the way he was looking at her made Jade think of Sirius, but Sirius had never made her feel so small, so helpless. She quickly thought through her options. She could struggle and ruin the engagement party for certain. She could let him have his way and tell Regulus later and absolutely crush Regulus because he couldn't protect her. She could let him have his way and not say a word and pray that Regulus never found out, knowing full well that if he did find out he would be hurt that she didn't tell him.

Realizing that none of her options were anything like good options, Jade began to feel utter panic build up inside of her. What did he want? What could she get away with?

"I think I'm quite fine now, thank you," she said softly as he took a step toward her. "Won't Narcissa miss you?"

"I believe Narcissa has been occupied by her aunt," he said with a bit of a sneer. "She'll hardly notice I'm gone."

"Well," Jade said breathlessly, "I think Regulus might miss me."

That was true, certainly, she knew. Regulus would start to get worried if she didn't come back soon. He was probably already worried, but she wasn't sure whether he'd leave it so as not to cause a scene or panic and make a spectacle of himself despite his mother's warning. She prayed he wouldn't make a scene, that he would pretend nothing was happening so that she could lie to him later and tell him nothing happened.

The very thought of lying to him made Jade sick to her stomach, however. Though that could have been Lucius moving even closer to her. She tried to take a step back but found herself reaching the sink and with nowhere else to go.

"Relax, Jade," he said with a smile that might have been comforting if it hadn't come from the serpent she knew Lucius to be. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Would it be rude to say that I don't trust you?" Jade whispered, wishing he would stop moving closer.

"Exceptionally," he said with a sickening chuckle, move his hand to her hair, smelling her hair as though he had every right to do so.

He probably thought he did. Jade was sure he didn't.

"Lucius, please don't," she whispered, closing her eyes, thinking that if she didn't have her eyes open, it wouldn't happen.

"Don't what?" he drawled, his mouth just at her ear as she flinched, sounding so pleased with himself. He had just pressed his lips to hers when there was a knock at the door.

"Jade?" said Regulus's voice from the other side of the door. "Jade are you in there?"

Lucius pressed his fingers to Jade's opening lips, warning her not to answer and she had to make a split second decision. Did she keep her mouth shut like Lucius told her to and submit herself to his mercy, hoping everything would be okay, or did she say something, igniting Lucius's ire and Regulus's fury, similarly hoping that everything would be okay?

"Yes, I am," she said, keeping her eyes closed, knowing, that Lucius was probably looking at her with absolute fury.

"Are you all right? You're taking quite a while..."

She knew exactly what Regulus thought was going on, exactly what was really happening... Lucius leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Make him go away, darling, or you'll both regret it."

Jade wasn't even sure she would know what to say to make him go away. Regulus was already suspicious, already on edge. But what would he do to Regulus if she failed to make him go away? She didn't think she could stand the thought of Lucius hurting Regulus.

Her trying to decide what to do took too long, however, because Regulus opened the door to find Lucius cornering Jade against the wall. Her eyes opened to see the absolute rage on both of their faces and she didn't know what to do when Regulus and Lucius glared at each other. All she could to was cry.


	7. Dealing with the Devil

"Back away, Lucius," Regulus said in a low, dangerous voice that even Sirius would have been proud of. "Leave Jade alone or I'm going to make sure you regret this."

"Somehow I don't think I'll be the one regretting this little incident," Lucius drawled, running his finger teasingly down Jade's cheek.

Jade winced, shrinking away from his touch almost instantly.

"Such a pretty girl, Regulus," Lucius hissed. "It's a shame the Black family is so close with the Alexanders or I would have had her. Walburga, for all her faults, is a remarkably bright woman. She knew exactly when I was about to be betrothed and swooped in both times before I could claim my pretty little prize." Jade flinched as Lucius ran his thumb along her lips. "Very good at what she does, Walburga Black. But you knew that."

"Please," Jade whimpered, wanting Lucius to leave her alone, but he didn't step away.

"When you are branded, Regulus," Lucius continued as though she'd not said a thing, "Jade Alexander will make an excellent complement to your resume. I doubt they will expect her to join the cause directly, of course. Narcissa won't be branded, for example, but as a hostess I think we shall find her... most accommodating. Wouldn't you agree?"

Regulus stepped forward, pushing himself between Lucius and Jade, looking like he was about to throw himself at Lucius but maintaining the composure required of him.

"I'm sure Narcissa is missing you, Lucius," Regulus hissed. "Please leave."

"Don't expect this to be over," Lucius said, backing away toward the door, still smirking. "We'll be seeing quite a lot of each other in the time to come."

Jade closed her fingers shakily around Regulus's arm when Lucius went out of the room. Regulus didn't turn to her right away and she was afraid he was upset with her.

"What did he do to you?" Regulus asked softly, deliberately, but without turning to look at her.

"Regulus," she whispered.

"What did he do to you?" he repeated in a lower, more dangerous voice. "Did he touch you? Did he hurt you? I need to know, Jade."

"He kissed me," she whispered. "But then you knocked. He tried to make me be quiet, to make you go away. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I thought he might hurt you... Or..."

"Or you," Regulus said, obviously angry, finally turning to look at her. "But he didn't hurt you. You're okay."

Neither of them said 'for now', but the words hung on the air between them as they just looked at each other. Jade could feel her anxiety steadying at the least, although it didn't fade. Regulus gently reached out a hand and wiped away her tears.

"I knew this would happen," he sighed. "I just knew it."

"Nothing happened, not really," Jade said softly, wrapping her arms around him. "You came in time."

"What if next time I don't?" he whispered mournfully. "What if I can't protect you?"

Jade didn't know what that might mean. What did he classify as not being able to protect her? Was he just talking about Malfoy, or was there more on his mind? She didn't have the answers. Jade never had the answers for anything that couldn't be found in a textbook.

"We'll figure it out should that day ever come," she finally said softly. "I believe in you."

He smiled at her a little bit, not his best smile but in that moment she was thrilled to see any smile at all. He leaned down and pressed his lips gently to hers.

It was different than the fear she'd felt with Malfoy, but also different from the kisses they'd previously shared. It was a cleansing sort of interaction, like his lips were wiping away the gross misconduct Lucius had committed against her.

It didn't take long for the kiss to grow between them, though, her arms wrapping around his neck and his fingers running through her long, blonde hair. She was pleased in that moment that she'd decided to unorthodoxly wear it down, but that thought was chased away with the others as Regulus moved his lips from her lips to her jaw to her neck and downward.

She was just getting into the groove of the sensation, holding in the moans that were building up inside her, when Regulus pushed her back into the wall, growling a bit animalistic as he nibbled at her neck.

There was some reason they weren't supposed to be doing this... Some reason why here and now were not a good time and place, but Jade couldn't seem to remember what it was.

That is, until there was a knock at the door.

"Regulus?" said the voice of Orion Black. "Regulus, are you in there?"

Regulus was about to say something when the door opened and Orion Black looked in with a stern expression. Jade was barely seeing him over Regulus's shoulder, her eyes barely open as Regulus gripped her waist and turned his head away from her neck to face his father.

"Well," Orion said with a frown, "I might have expected this from your brother, Regulus, but when Lucius told me what you two were up to I wasn't sure I believed him. Is she pregnant yet?"

"Father, we haven't-"

"Is she pregnant yet?" Orion snapped, obviously not believing that they'd not had sex.

"No," Jade said quickly. "No, I'm not pregnant, sir."

Orion Black sneered at her. Finally, he said, "We'll have to move up the wedding date. Unfortunately, Lucius mentioned where your cousin could hear, so word that you two are fooling around will be out by the end of the night. Christmas isn't too soon, I think." He blinked at Jade for a moment and then said, "I shall discuss it with your mother and her parents. We should have a date for you by tomorrow night. We'll write you."

"Father, I don't think-"

"No," Orion said coldly. "No, apparently you don't. I expected better of you, Regulus."

Jade wanted to scream. For the first time in her life, all she wanted to do was cause the biggest mess and noise and chaos she possibly could. Everyone was looking at them during the engagement party for Lucius and Narcissa. She couldn't fathom why Lucius was doing this to her, why he was taking away her hopes and dreams, but she knew that it must be some sort of vindictive act on his part and she wanted to take his long blond locks and yank them all out of his self-righteous scalp.

She was going to be married before she even had a chance to finish school... which meant she wasn't going to be able to finish school. Regulus was a picture of a stoic pureblood, but Jade knew that underneath that exterior he was panicking, trying to think of a way to salvage her schooling. Regulus had to be, because Jade was too panicked to try.

And then she thought of it... Sirius. If anyone could come up with solutions to the seemingly impossible, it was Sirius Black. Regulus wouldn't like it very much. She would have to be delicate when she presented it to him, but Jade knew it was the solution.

When they went back to Hogwarts, Regulus found an abandoned classroom and pulled her inside, pacing frantically.

"We can't do this," he said anxiously. "We have to find some way to save your schooling. They won't let you stay in school, they'll expect you to learn your duties and attempt to conceive an heir when I'm home on breaks..."

"Regulus, I know," Jade sighed. "I know. I'm not fond of it either, but panicking about it like this isn't going to fix anything. I don't understand what Lucius was after, but-"

"You don't?" Regulus said, confused. "Jade, if you're not at school and I am, what do you think you'll be expected to do during your days?"

"Uh, keep house, I guess," she said, frowning. "Follow your mother around when she tells me to..."

"And where do you think she might take you in the course of your duties?" he snapped.

Her eyes widened as she realized that she would be expected to interact with Lucius and Narcissa on a regular basis. Lucius was trying to get to her without Regulus to get in the way.

"I can't leave Hogwarts," she said urgently. "I can't."

"I know," Regulus sighed. "We've just got to think of something. He's really put us in a tight spot, here."

Jade nibbled a bit on her lip, knowing she had to say something to Regulus about what she knew they had to do, but being very, very afraid of doing it.

"We need an expert," she whispered. "We need the advice and help of someone who knows all the loopholes of the pureblood world."

Regulus frowned a bit more, looking over at her with fear in his eyes.

"I don't think I'm liking where this is going," he whispered.

"Regulus, please," she sighed. "I... I can't... We can't... I..."

Regulus frowned, wrapping her up in a hug, and saying softly, "I know. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, love. I... We need Sirius, don't we?"

"Yeah," Jade whispered, nuzzling against him. "We do."

"Do you really think he'll do this for me?" Regulus whispered. "I did punch him in the face, after all."

"You're right," Jade said with a small laugh. "He'll do it for me, though."

"Jade," Regulus said slowly, skeptically.

"Relax," she sighed. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"I know," Regulus said with a small smile. "It's him I don't trust. I know he still wants you."

"Yes," Jade said slowly, "but I know Sirius better than you, remember. He knows not to touch what he can't have. You've seen the way he's been with Lily Evans."

"He can't stand the Mudblood," Regulus snorted. "I don't think Potter has anything to do with the stick up her arse."

Jade wasn't too sure about that, but she just smiled and shook her head.

"I wish you wouldn't say that," she whispered. "She's a nice girl and a good witch."

Regulus looked surprised, but that faded into a soft smile and he said, "I'll have to use it around some of the others, but if you don't want to hear me say it, you never will, I promise you that. You're right, she's very bright." And he kissed her nose. "But not as bright as you, love."

"You flatter me," she teased. "I think you've got me all wrong."

"I don't think so," Regulus whispered, pressing his lips lightly to her cheek.

"Do this mean I have permission to talk to Sirius about our issue?" Jade pressed gently.

Regulus snorted.

"Did you ever really need my permission, Jade?" he sighed. "I'm not Lucius. I don't have any sort of demand that you run all of your activities by me and submit to my every whim."

"Oh?" Jade said with a smile. "And so you'd just prefer to have me with you everywhere to make sure that I don't have to run things by you."

He sighed, looking down at the floor and then back up at Jade.

"You know that had nothing to do with you, love," he said earnestly.

"I know," Jade agreed. "It had to do with Sirius. So does this."

"I'm sorry," Regulus sighed. "I don't think very straight where he's concerned, especially with you because I know how long he's wanted you. Forgive me if I don't exactly trust him around a beautiful girl he spent years basically thinking of as his right."

Jade hadn't really thought of it that way. Even if he'd had a crush on her as a child, Sirius really had spent most of their lives with the expectation that she would belong to him in a matter of time. She wasn't sure if that made his behavior toward her and Regulus more forgivable or simply more understandable, but it was something about him she hadn't thought of before.

Jade had decided to approach Sirius the first available opportunity, which happened to be during a free period they shared, the period where Regulus had Ancient Runes and wouldn't insist on being at her side. Sirius was sitting with the Marauders in the Charms courtyard, sitting in their little circle and laughing over someone's joke. She decided it must have been something Sirius said judging by the smug way he was puffing himself up. He just loved being responsible for the amusement of others.

Taking a deep breath, Jade walked straight into the lion's den and looked at Sirius, who looked up at her, startled that she'd approached him, especially in such a public setting.

"I need your help," she said softly, but urgently.

"What's wrong?" Sirius said, dropping his usual bored, smug expression and trading it in for one full of anxiety and fear. "Is Regulus hurting you? Is he pressuring you? What's wrong?"

"Um, it's not Regulus," Jade sighed. "Not really, it's... Well, it's sort of your father and sort of Lucius. Mostly Lucius, but... well, can we talk about this somewhere less public?"

Sirius looked around at the other Marauders and frowned slightly.

"It's not them," Jade said quickly, not wanting to offend his friends in case he would need them to help her. "It's just, this is a very public place."

"C'mon," Sirius said with a nod. "Can they come?"

"I suppose they'd better," Jade said honestly. "We might need their input."

"To the kitchens, then," Sirius said quickly, standing and leading the way off to the domain of the house-elves, settling them down around a table and making sure that the house-elves brought her a strong cup of tea. Jade took a grateful drink, knowing he understood that she was anything but calm.

"So what's wrong?" Sirius asked after she'd taken a few drinks.

"Well, Lucius cornered me at his engagement party," Jade sighed. "Regulus came in, interrupted Lucius trying to have his way with me, and so to get back at Regulus for stepping in Lucius made sure we got caught snogging by your father and, well, Lucius basically has the whole of the pureblood community thinking that Regulus and I are shagging. Your father's forcing the wedding forward, soon, apparently."

Sirius's fists clenched angrily.

"You'll have to leave school," he spat. "And that means... Merlin, Jade!"

"Yeah," she sighed. "It means Lucius can pretty much have access to me without Regulus around whenever he wants, which was exactly what he was going for. Sirius, you've got to help us! We don't know what to do. Orion, he doesn't believe a word we say. I don't think he cares if it's true or not, just that we do as he says and keep ourselves as much in line as possible."

"I know," Sirius sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I know what they're like."

Jade shifted slightly in her seat, waiting for him or one of the other Marauders to come up with some sort of idea, some sort of brilliant plan they always seemed to have on hand. She would have settled for a half-baked drug dream if it would stop Lucius from taking advantage of her. Sirius didn't seem to have anything at that moment, though, slamming his fist on the table angrily before getting up and pacing frantically.

"He can't do this," Sirius muttered, more to himself than to anyone else in the room. "He's not having you."

She sighed, slightly annoyed.

"That's lovely, Sirius," she said dryly. "How exactly do you plan on accomplishing that?"

"I don't know," he growled. "I'm trying to think of something, but I'm sort of at a loss here, Jade! What exactly were you doing when my father walked in?"

"Um, snogging," Jade said, trying very hard not to get embarrassed. "I don't exactly remember, but it wasn't anything too grossly inappropriate. I mean, nothing we're technically not allowed to do before marriage."

"You're a virgin?" Sirius pressed, and Jade could feel the heat pooling in her cheeks.

"Sirius," she said slowly, trying to find a way to calm herself.

"Jade, this is important," he snapped. "Don't make me find other ways to find out."

She wasn't sure what that meant, but she was fairly certain it wasn't what it sounded like, so she nodded and whispered, "Yes, Sirius, I am."

"Stay one," he ordered her. "I think I can build a plan on that but Remus and I are going to have to do some research. By the end of the week, the wedding will be postponed again. I promise."

"Really?" she said brightly, unable to contain the smile spreading across her face. "That fast?"

Sirius grinned slightly in reaction to her smile, and he looked about to say something, but he stopped himself, smiled a little dimmer but no less attractively and said, "Yeah, Jade. I promise. Go ahead and tell Regulus I'm working on it. If you like, you can tell him I'm promising result and by when, but I doubt he'll believe me, anyway."

Jade knew that he was right, but she didn't want to think about Regulus's biases where Sirius was concerned, no matter how realistic those biases might or might not be. She wanted to think about the good news Sirius had promised.

So she kissed Sirius on the cheek, hugged each other Marauder (even Peter Pettigrew), before rushing off to tell Regulus. Sirius had called after her as she was leaving the kitchen, but Jade was so excited that she didn't realize it until she was halfway to the dungeons. Regulus was pacing the hallway, obviously knowing she had been consulting with Sirius and when he saw her approaching he froze in his tracks, stiffening, waiting for her answer.

"Sirius says he can do it!" she squealed happily, running into Regulus's arms. She could feel his smile as he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.

Jade was going to be okay.


	8. Enlisting the Marauders

Jade couldn't get over the tension in the room as she sat there, holding Regulus's hand to try to calm him, as Sirius and James were presenting the plan that would put off the wedding until they were done with school.

She had been hesitant to agree to the meeting as Sirius had insisted it take place, but Regulus didn't much like the idea of her meeting with the Marauders alone and jumped at the invitation, and how could Jade argue with Regulus on this? He was tense enough as it was.

"I'm not entirely sure I understand how this helps," Regulus said slowly, obviously trying to remain as calm as possible.

Sirius sighed, a bit agitated, but Jade shot him a warning look and he went back to being as neutral as possible.

"Father is operating under the assumption that Jade's virginity has been compromised. That's important. The first step is to prove that she's still intact."

"What if she's not?" James said suddenly.

Jade blinked, not sure if she'd actually heard him correctly, and both of the Black brothers got stormy expressions, turning to James Potter with the very obvious intent to defend her honor and make him regret ever impugning it.

"I didn't mean that!" James said, looking slightly panicked and holding up his hands in self-defense. "I mean, Remus told me once that hymen's can break from unrelated activities, like sports and stuff, well before a girl ever has sex! She could have broken her hymen and still be a virgin and then none of this matters and we'll have to re-strategize. So we should probably check. I mean, magically, of course. I'm not suggesting we physically feel around inside your fiancée, Regulus."

Had the situation not been so solemn, Jade might have giggled at how quickly and urgently James Potter said all of his point.

"Obviously," Regulus said dryly. "As much as I hate to admit it, it's a good point, and there's no point going forward unless we know your plan could work, Sirius."

"Right," Sirius sighed, flipping through the book in front of him, searching through the pages he'd stuck bits of parchment in to mark things, probably spots that contained spells and information that would aid her case. Jade smirked a little bit.

"Did you get that in the library?"

He smirked as he looked through the pages and nodded.

"You should have seen the look on the librarian's face when I checked it out. Especially because I've never checked out a book before."

James snorted and nodded.

"Yeah, it was a sight to see, I'm telling you," he sighed. "I think she half-wanted to find some reason not to check it out to him, but there was nothing against any sort or rule or anything, so-"

"Here it is!" Sirius cried, putting his finger partway down a page and looking up at them excitedly. "The spell doesn't look too complicated. Do you mind if I just...?"

"Other than incantation, does it involve anything...?" Regulus asked vaguely.

"No, no, nothing like that," Sirius assured him quickly. "May I?"

Regulus nodded and Sirius took a deep breath, turning to Jade, and looking down at the book once more. He frowned slightly, muttered, "Damn, bloody nonverbals," and then was overcome with a look of intense concentration as he flicked his wand sharply at Jade.

Jade wasn't sure anything at all had happened, except for the way the three boys jumped, surprised, like she'd suddenly sprouted a second head.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"What does it mean, Sirius?" Regulus asked, turning urgently to his brother.

Sirius looked down at the book again, smiled, and said, "It's fine; she's intact."

"Good," Regulus sighed, squeezing her hand lightly.

Later, Regulus explained to her that they had seen a reddish aura around her when Sirius had done the spell, something she hadn't been able to see, that had been the determining factor.

"So now," Sirius said, snapping the book shut, "I make my claim."

"This is the part I don't quite understand," Regulus admitted. "You've been disowned. How can you make a claim?"

Sirius's proud grin was all Jade needed to feel confident in the plan. After all, Sirius rarely did things without knowing he would get away with them or that his odds were very, very good.

"There's a very old law governing these things," Sirius said proudly, "that is precisely the reason some of the newer families, like the Malfoys, have come into power. It so happens that any pureblood can make a claim, family or no family, so some of the more clever, up-and-coming young purebloods were able to impress families enough to get the money from daughters inheriting their father's money, much like yourself, Alexander. Therefore, I have the opportunity to make a claim to the beautiful Jade Alexander, and that's the first step that opens the door."

"And then what?" Regulus asked nervously.

"I get to make all kinds of demands," Sirius said with a grin. "You see, I can personally demand that her virginity be tested, just like we just did, and once everyone knows that she's still a virgin I can drop the claim and you can get the wedding back to a date that's better suited to you."

"And do we have back-up plans if something goes wrong?" Jade asked nervously.

James snorted.

"Alexander, we're Marauders; we don't need back-up plans."

Regulus narrowed his eyes and Jade rolled hers. They were so full of themselves, the Marauders, but none more than Sirius and James.

"To be perfectly honest, Jade," Sirius said with a sheepish sort of shrug, "we don't operate very well on too heavy of planning. Back-up plans sort of come to us as we go, which is really the best way, since they've got to be flexible to changes. But don't worry. You're safe with me."

Regulus obviously wasn't going to take the advice to trust Sirius when it came to Jade's integrity, although he really didn't have much other choice.

The morning lent to Jade's anxiety because she knew Sirius had sent a letter to her father, challenging Regulus's claim on Jade, challenging the engagement that had been both a blessing and a curse.

As she sat down to breakfast with Regulus, away from his friends, who were growing more and more used to being thrust aside for Jade, she began twisting her napkin in her hands immediately, ignoring that there was food in front of her, or that eating it was the thing one ought to do at breakfast.

"Darling, eat something," Regulus said pleadingly. He was watching her with concern touching his grey eyes.

"I can't," she whispered, continuing to twist her napkin. Regulus sighed, grabbed the napkin, and put it down on the table, taking both of her hands in his.

"Jade, I know you're stressed, but you'll feel better if you eat something. I promise."

He was right, of course. As soon as she started eating she started to feel more relaxed, and she held Regulus's hand as she ate her toast.

She'd very nearly forgotten about the whole issue until an owl brought a letter to Regulus during the post delivery.

"Well?" she asked anxiously. "Is it from your father?"

"Yes," Regulus said, ripping the letter open quickly, skimming it. "They've been informed of the challenge... Father's outraged... Says they're going to have to call all three of us to the estates to have tests done over the weekend. He's arranging it with Dumbledore." Regulus looked up at her. "I'm worried about Sirius."

"Why?" Jade asked, confused. "I mean, this was his plan, after all."

"They're quite upset with him," he whispered, looking over the letter again. "I think they might attack him, given the chance."

"Don't worry," she soothed. "Write him, remind him that the tests will all turn in our favor and Sirius won't be a threat at all compared to the heir of the Noble House of Black."

Regulus nodded, sighing deeply and fiddling around his bag for some parchment and a quill to reply. Jade watched him, her stomach still too turbulent to eat. What if his father wouldn't believe them? What if he decided it wasn't worth his suspicions being true and decided to find some other way to get Sirius to no longer be a threat?

Knowing they shouldn't, Jade's eyes flickered up to the Gryffindor table, searching for Sirius, searching for a reminder that he was alive and well.

There was, sitting at the Gryffindor table next to Remus Lupin, and he saw her looking at him and he winked, happy and carefree as always. It was like he had no concept that anything truly irreversible could ever happen to him. Maybe he really believed that.

Jade harbored no such illusions. She knew just how terrible things could be when someone got on the wrong side of the families that ruled the wizarding world, and Sirius had already done. Now he'd done it in spectacular, taunting fashion.

And he didn't have a plan 'b'.

She couldn't help but be distracted in her classes all day, nearly setting the table on fire in Charms, and flushing with embarrassment when she was caught not paying attention in Transfiguration. She made the excuse that she wasn't feeling well.

"Well, go to the hospital wing, then, Miss Alexander, but don't come to my class unprepared to properly participate again. I will not tolerate such stubborn silliness from anyone."

Professor McGonagall thought she was refusing to go to the infirmary because she was too stubborn to admit she was ill. Jade was surprised with how likely she was to do something like that.

Jade didn't go to the hospital wing, but she did leave class, and she found herself wandering to the kitchens, but she couldn't recall how to get in. She'd only ever been in with a Black brother. How had this become her life, dependent on the two feuding brothers for everything? Her happiness, her schooling, her safety, even her right to eat food when she felt like eating, were all dependent on those two silly boys.

Suddenly, she found she wasn't hungry, but it was then that she heard a familiar voice say her name.

Jade turned to find herself facing Sirius.

"Tickle the pear," he said, amused, as he correctly guessed why she was standing there, staring angrily at a bowl of fruit. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Don't you?" she countered, reaching out and tickling the pear.

"Not on my free period," he teased. "But I happen to know you've got class right now. So why are you glaring at fruit instead?"

"I was told to go to the infirmary," Jade said with a shrug, following him into the kitchens.

"And you're not there because...?"

"I'm not sick."

Sirius raised his eyebrows questioningly, and Jade sighed.

"I wasn't paying attention in McGonagall's class, and I told her that I was sorry, that I wasn't feeling well, and she told me to go to the infirmary and not let it happen again. But I'm not sick, so I decided to come here instead, only I'm so distracted lately I couldn't remember how to get into the kitchens."

"Woah, Jade, Jade, relax," he said gently. "You were starting to ramble at the speed of a rampaging cockatrice. Why weren't you paying attention in class? What's on your mind?"

She shook her head, sitting down and shaking her head again when a house-elf asked if he could be of service.

"Jade," Sirius sighed, sitting across from her. "Will you at least look at me, love?"

There was a sharp twinge of pain in her stomach at that word, and she didn't like the idea of having to tell him what was really bothering her, didn't like the idea of looking up at him and finding out that she couldn't keep her feelings inside.

But she looked up at him anyway, and sure enough, with the questioning grey eyes on her, she began to cry.

Sirius soothed her as best she could, and then she explained to him her fears.

"So, basically, you think that my father is going to be too concerned that your virtue could be compromised and that I could use that to further my claim and so he'll do something drastic to get me out of the way?" he asked. "Like what, _killing_ me? Do you honestly think my father, the old bat that he is, could kill me?"

"No," Jade said firmly. "But I think that he could get one of your cousin's husbands to do it, or even Bellatrix, and with pleasure."

She thought she saw him shiver slightly, and she knew he knew that she was right about Bellatrix.

"Look, Jade, I know you're worried," he said gently, "but I'm going to be fine. I know what I'm doing. I handled these people for sixteen years, and I got out fine. I can do this."

Jade thought about pointing out that he had to run away from home after sixteen years, so he didn't handle himself all that well, but it didn't seem fair to say out loud. He knew it as well as she did, and the words hung on the air, anyway.

She didn't look at him then, not wanting to have to say how worried she was. He already knew, what was the point in repeating it? But now that he understood her fears, she hoped that maybe he would come up with some sort of plan, some sort of fallback in case she was right, in case Orion Black really meant to kill his eldest son.

Jade shivered slightly at the thought, then decided she was hungry after all, and called over an elf.

"A turkey sandwich," she said. "And pumpkin juice with ice."

"Just some chocolate biscuits for me, thanks," Sirius said kindly to the elf, which scampered away.

Then he frowned at Jade.

"You know, you can't just keep on worrying like this," he pointed out. "If something goes wrong, at least you and Regulus will get what you wanted, right? You shouldn't be worrying about me."

"But if I get what I want," she said softly, "is it really what I want if something bad happens to you?"

He snorted, taking one of the biscuits that was brought to him and looking at it, amused.

"And here I was thinking you didn't care about me," he muttered bitterly. "Look, love, don't worry about me, all right? I don't want to stay up at night feeling guilty thinking that you're too worried to sleep. I wouldn't mind you keeping me up at night, but not like that."

Jade blushed, looking down at her sandwich.

Sirius wasn't actively pursuing her, but that didn't mean that he was any less desiring of her, it seemed. Every word dripped with a bitter sincerity, like he wanted nothing more than to try to make her fall for him again, but he knew the battle had long since been lost. Jade wasn't sure if that was better or worse than the way he had been before.

"Please don't pout," she sighed. "This is hard enough without you being like this."

"Like what?" he asked, but she knew he knew what she meant, and so she just shook her head, finishing off her sandwich, trying to pretend that he wasn't watching her eat.

It wasn't threatening, and he was helping her, she reminded herself, but it was still awkward, and she wondered if they would ever be able to have a normal conversation again.

But, Jade decided, sneaking a glance at him as he was looking down at his biscuits, they'd never really had a normal conversation. They'd had forcibly cordial, scripted conversations growing up at family events, and really any other actual speaking they'd done was when he was trying to seduce her away from Regulus. In the whole time she'd known him, she couldn't recall them ever actually having a typical, cordial, unscripted conversation.

There was a first time for everything, though.

"So, how are your biscuits?"

He frowned, looking up at her, confused.

"Good," he said slowly. "Your sandwich was all right?"

"Yeah," she muttered, realizing that it was awkward. How could he ever have thought that they could end up married? They couldn't even talk to each other.

"Right," he said.

"Right," she breathed, tapping her fingers on the wood table.

"This is hard, isn't it?" he sighed, laughing a bit. "I mean, I've never really talked to a girl before, if you don't count the talks I've had with Mary MacDonald to smooth things over with the Gryffindor girls after pranks. But Remus usually leads that..."

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "I never really talk to anyone, except for Regulus."

Sirius frowned again.

"I should have talked to you, before," he sighed. "I mean, I really should have tried. But when I was young, I didn't know how and then it just seemed natural to keep on as I was until... until you were no longer mine just because you were mine. I'm... I'm sorry, Jade. I guess a big part of this mess is my fault."

She frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

Sirius gave her a sad sort of smile and said, "If I'd been good to you before, maybe you would have fallen in love with me, and maybe you would have come with me. I took you for granted."

Jade didn't know what to say to that, so she just sat there, watching as he finished his last biscuit, sat perfectly still when he kissed her forehead, and then watched him leave the kitchen with an air of mild curiosity.

But in her mind, she was reeling. Was that true? She supposed he had taken her for granted, and maybe he saw this as his way of making it up to her, but would it really have changed anything?

She supposed she'd never know, but she also wished he wouldn't overestimate his abilities and get himself killed. And she wished it would all be over, because the stress of waiting and wondering was getting ready to do her in.


	9. Tasting Hope

Jade Alexander was standing in the middle of a thinly veiled hostile environment.

On one side of the room, her parents were standing with Regulus and his parents, watching the Ministry official expectantly as he poked and prodded her with his wand, doing various test.

On the other side of the room stood Sirius and 'Mr. Potter', who she happened to know was just James with an Aging Potion, who was acting as his 'guardian and legal counsel', which she figured Remus had told him to say when they arrived.

There was something in Orion Black's eyes that suggested to Jade that he was both furious and bewildered that James's 'father' had gotten involved.

"Are you nearly finished?" Orion snapped finally, breaking the silence that had pervaded the already-awkward atmosphere since the official had begun the tests.

The Ministry man blinked up at Regulus's father for a moment, pausing his prodding as if trying to remember whether or not he was nearly finished. Finally, he said, "Just one more, Mr. Black. Testing her maidenhead."

She could see Sirius and Regulus both tense, and she thought she might have even seen Orion Black wince and his hand to flicker toward his wand. He didn't do anything, though, and the test went on exactly as it had when Sirius had done it. The man smiled.

"There," he said. "Finished. She is perfectly eligible. No health concerns, able to bear children, and she's a maiden."

Orion Black blinked.

"I told you," Regulus muttered under his breath.

"Should we negotiate the claims, then?" the Ministry man said eagerly, conjuring a table behind Jade, presumably over the negotiation for her hand in marriage, but Sirius smiled slightly.

"Actually, I thank you for your time, sir," Sirius said in his smug way, "but I've changed my mind. Regulus can have her."

Before anyone in the room not privy to the plan had a chance to register exactly what had just happened, Sirius and James-as-father were out the door.

"He always was a strange boy," Walburga muttered darkly. "What was the point of that?"

"Father," Regulus said nervously. "I... I actually was hoping we could discuss pushing back the wedding date, in light of... circumstances?"

Orion blinked, still staring after where Sirius had left.

"What?" he muttered, not turning his gaze. "Oh, yes, wedding date. It's not urgent."

"No," Regulus said softly. "Perhaps we could wait until we're graduated, then, as originally planned?"

"Fine, fine," Orion muttered. "That will do just fine."

Jade knew he was trying to figure out what Sirius's purpose had been, and she wished in her heart that he never found out, although she didn't have much energy for wishing, so relieved she was at having the wedding date restored to after graduation, that she was finally feeling the release of all the anxiety that had been pent up inside of her.

Regulus wrapped her hand up in his, smiling at her. Everything was going to be all right, she told herself. Everything was going to be fine.

The cold winds came to Hogwarts and the snow followed soon after. Regulus and Jade had both gotten permission from their families to stay at Hogwarts, saying that they wanted to study, and that prefects were needed over the holiday, which was true. But it wasn't why they were staying.

They literally had the Slytherin common room to themselves.

Other Hufflepuffs had stayed, but Regulus had been the only Slytherin, so they spent much of their time curled up together on one of the black leather couches, watching the fire glow in the strange green light that permeated the room from nowhere and everywhere at once.

A few nights before Christmas, Jade was watching the fire play while Regulus drew shapes on her back through the fabric of her thin sweater.

"I have something to ask you," he whispered.

"Mmm-hmm."

He moved her hair over her left shoulder and pressed his lips to the back of her neck briefly, firmly, before saying, "I want you to stay the night with me."

Jade blinked.

Hadn't all their problems been caused by his father just _thinking_ they'd done just that, much less actually doing it? What was Regulus thinking?

She must have tensed, because Regulus hastily said, "Not... not like that. I just meant... Well, you don't have any friends in Hufflepuff anyway, and I'd really like to hold you. Just... just staying in a bed together. Nothing you don't want to do and... and not that. We can't risk it again."

"No," Jade said sadly. "We can't."

There was a moment of silence between them as Jade realized he might take what she said as turning down his request for her to stay, which wasn't what she'd meant at all.

"I mean, we can't... risk..."

She began to babble as the blush of her utter embarrassment filled her cheeks and probably colored her neck as well.

"Does that... does that disappoint you?" he said in a forced-casual voice that she could tell was just dripping with curiosity.

Biting her lip and closing her eyes as his fingers continued to trace shapes on her back, she nodded, feeling herself blush even deeper, knowing that she wanted to feel his skin on her skin again, like in the passageway.

But the temptation could get the best of them, Jade reminded herself. It was best not to go there.

Regulus whispered, "Me too," and his fingers began tracing lower and lower on her back until they reached the hem of her sweater. "So," he said slowly, whispering in her ear, "are you staying tonight?"

She was opening her mouth, although she wasn't entirely sure what answer would have come out, but before she had a chance to decide on words his fingers, cold compared with her wool-warmed skin, slipped underneath the hem of her sweater and began tracing up the way they'd come, under the fabric instead of over.

Jade let out a gasp of surprise, and decided she liked it. By the time he reached the middle of her back, her mouth was saying that she would stay before the rest of her had really processed anything.

Regulus led her into is room moments later, gray eyes dark with an expression she decided must be desire.

The rooms were similar in decor to the common room, and the beds had emerald green hangings with silver trim, dark ebony wood everywhere around her, and the candle ignited more of the strange green glow that the common room had, only darker because the flame of the candle was much smaller than the fire in the fireplace.

Jade looked up at Regulus, whose eyes looked even hungrier in the strange green light as they drank her in, his hands reaching out to the hem of her sweater. She thought he was probably going to put his hands under it again, but her instinct had other plans, and she lifted her arms up. Taking the hint, Regulus's shaking hands gripped the hem and pulled the sweater off over her head.

Of course, as sweaters did, this made her hair full of static and it stood up at odd angles when he tossed the sweater aside, drinking in her body, pale skin reflecting in the green light. She saw him lick his lips slightly and she was sure he wasn't aware he did it, but it boosted her confidence slightly. Regulus took a step forward, smoothed down some of her hair, and pressed his lips hungrily to hers.

Was this her? Had she been the one who had awakened this hunger in him?

If so, she was proud of herself, and desperate to do more of it. Without really thinking about what she was doing, she pulled at his sweater, parting the kiss to pull it over his head and toss it aside.

It wasn't so different, the green light from the dim light in the passage from Hogsmeade. She could see more of him at once like this, and when she ran her fingers across his skin she thought that the green light almost suited the contours of his chest: He was a noble, pureblood Slytherin, covered in the light of the lake. Jade bit her lip.

Her parents had named her after a precious green stone in the assumption that she would be a Slytherin as well, as all her family had been for as long as anyone remembered.

Regulus didn't give Jade much time to consider the colors they might have named her after, because he pulled her in for another kiss, unzipping her skirt and letting it fall to her ankles. Jade jumped with surprise. She felt oddly uneven, though, feeling the fabric of his trousers against her skin. It just felt like the right thing to do, unzipping his trousers, unbuttoning the button, pushing it down over his hips, watching him step out of it.

Jade was surprised for a moment at how muscular his legs were, but then she recalled Quidditch and smiled into his kiss. That, and the feel of his fingers gripping her body to his, the surprising way she felt her body reacting to this, and the way she could feel _his_ body reacting to hers.

"Oh, Merlin," he gasped when their lips finally parted. "This could get out of hand very quickly," he intoned, leading her over to the bed she assumed was his. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"Do you... do you want me to leave?" she asked, hoping he would say no.

"Not on your life," he said in a voice that could have easily belonged to his brother, but somehow when Regulus was saying things like that it made her knees collapse.

He helped her onto the bed, hovering over her as he climbed onto the bed, his mouth lingering just above her neck.

Jade gasped as he lowered his weight onto her slightly, his skin pressing against her skin with naught but a few flimsy pieces of fabric as barriers between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him as close as she could as his lips touched to her neck, renewing sensations that she'd not felt properly since his father had caught them.

She shivered pleasantly as his lips trailed down from her neck, exploring much of her bared skin, kissing around the fabric, although each time he neared the barriers to the rest of her skin, she could feel the heat in her core burn just a bit hotter, and she sighed with disappointment when he skipped over the areas altogether.

If it felt this good for her, surely he would enjoy it at least a little, so as he was kissing her knees tenderly, Jade sat up, trying to decide how best to explore Regulus's skin. She got onto her knees, thus taking her legs out of Regulus's reach and he looked up at her, confused.

"Lay down," she said softly, unsure of her own voice. What if he didn't like it? What if he thought it was silly?

Still, he watched her with curious gray eyes as he turned over and lay back on the bed, displaying his muscular body to her in the dim green light of the room. Swallowing sharply, Jade leaned down over him and pressed her lips to his collarbone experimentally, as he had done to her collarbone, but more tentative than he had. Regulus tangled his fingers up in her hair as she explored the skin and warmth of his torso with her mouth, teeth, and tongue. He gasped when she neared his nipples, so she figured boys must have them for some sort of sexual reason, and that his were as sensitive as hers could be. He also got a bit short of breath when she got to his belly button, and when she noticed this she ran her tongue around the circle on his stomach, noting the strangeness of the texture of his skin with the light dusting of hair that trailed right through his belly button and down into his pants.

"Jade," he whimpered, "we need to stop or I'm not going to be able to stop."

At first, her brain couldn't comprehend what he meant, but then she realized that he was saying that unless they stopped right away, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't lose control and that she really would lose her virginity right then and there.

And they couldn't have that, not yet.

Disappointed, she backed away from his body, shivering a little at the lack of warmth from the contact. Regulus sighed, crawling under the covers and motioning for Jade to follow him, which she did, smiling a bit in spite of herself as she felt him wrap his warm arms around her body before leaning over to blow out the candle that had been casting the eerie light across the room. She nestled her head against his chest, sighing.

"I love you," he whispered. "That's why I stopped us. You understand, don't you?"

"I do," Jade breathed back. "But... but I wanted more."

She could feel heat pooling in her cheeks with her boldness at saying as much out loud, and she was glad he'd put the candle out.

"Me too," he said, pressing his lips to her forehead and caressing her side gently with his thumb. "Someday, Jade, we'll get to do whatever we want together, and nobody will be able to tell us there's anything wrong with it." His other hand ran through her hair gently. "And nobody - _nobody_ - but me is ever going to touch you."

The rage in his voice was very thinly veiled, and she realized just how terrified he was that Lucius would find some other way to outwit them. She was a bit afraid of it too, but she just wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her face against his warm neck and feeling the heat of his body as it pressed against hers.

"Nobody else but you ever could," she whispered, although she knew that if Lucius wanted, he could find a way.

And he did want it, and he probably would find a way, but until that came up she didn't want to think of it. Perhaps it was impractical of her, but Jade Alexander didn't want to dwell on the possibility of Lucius hatching another plan, not at that moment in Regulus's arms.

"Do you think we'll be happy?" she said against his skin, thinking of her own parents and wondering if they had been happy in their married life. She knew it hadn't been one of the expectations of marriage that her mother had prepared her for, but suddenly it seemed very important. She wanted to be happy with Regulus, to have children and have them be happy and safe from the war that was brewing on the horizon of the future.

Sirius seemed like a more-or-less happy person, but Jade knew instinctively that she couldn't be happy with him. She couldn't say what it was exactly that was so different between the Black brothers... Perhaps it was that she wasn't so comfortable with how bold Sirius could be, or that she appreciated how Regulus seemed to read her moods with more ease than she herself could. Regulus paid attention to her, whereas Sirius had never really seen her, just the flashes of her that he liked best.

The only thing that Sirius had ever had over Regulus was assertiveness. Jade never would have typically cared about such a thing, but after everything Lucius had already put her through, an assertive and powerful husband to protect her looked like a fairly attractive bonus. Instead, she would have an assertive and powerful brother-in-law who her husband would never really trust and who both of her family and her husband's family wouldn't want anything to do with.

"I love you," she whispered, realizing that he must have fallen asleep when he didn't answer her question, and she ran her fingers through his hair lovingly. "I don't know what's coming next, but I do know that."

And she did love him. She loved the way his head felt on her breast. She loved that she was going to marry him.

What she didn't love was the unknowns that seemed to surround them and threaten them at every turn, but she supposed that she was put in Hufflepuff for a reason: she wouldn't turn away from him for fear. She was too loyal to leave when the waters got too high or the fires too hot. She would always find a way to stay with him, because she had made him promises and he needed her.

Regulus turned slightly and muttered in his sleep something that sounded eerily like Jade's name.

Jade wondered, as her eyes began to fluttered closed with sleep, if he usually dreamed of her, or if there was some lingering thing in his subconscious because of what they had just done. Would she have heard him mutter her name on any other night? Did Sirius mutter her name in his sleep?

She thought that Sirius might. Jade's fingers ran through Regulus's hair as she mused over whether it was important, any of it. Regulus loved her. Jade loved Regulus. Sirius could say her name in his sleep all he wanted, but it wouldn't change a thing.

And it was then that Jade fell asleep not realizing the bit of Slytherin she did have in her. In a way, she wanted Sirius to keep saying her name in his sleep, not because she wanted him, not because she would ever leave Regulus, but because she knew somewhere in her that as long as he was whispering her name feverishly in his sleep, he would answer every time she called for help.

And she would need his help. She would need him to be the strength Regulus couldn't be. If Jade Alexander had thought about it, if she could have had her way, she would have married both Black brothers, one because she loved him, and one because he loved her.


	10. Christmas Holiday

Jade awoke to the feel of someone's fingers running down her back. She shivered, moaned slightly, and the recalled that she'd spent the night in Regulus's bed. Those were his fingers running up her back again, curving at her shoulders as his lips went forward to kiss the back of her neck.

"Good morning," she whispered, leaning back into the kiss. "Did you sleep well?"

He grunted in the affirmative, trailing his lips down the curve of her spine torturously slow. Jade twitched slightly, smiling to herself, moving her hand back to tangle in his hair.

She tried to remember the dream she was having as she enjoyed the feel of his lips on her skin.

She'd been with Regulus, she knew that much, but in a place she didn't recognize as the interior of any building she'd ever seen. Perhaps it was some sort of dream home that she didn't have a conscious desire for but her subconscious knew well enough to create. It was a cozy sort of place, and she really wanted to find somewhere like that when they finally were married.

But she knew that the expectation would be that they took Grimmauld Place, which was the last thing she wanted. Maybe her in-laws would allow them to live in the Alexander manor.

He had kissed his way up to her neck, just below her ear, and he whispered, "How could I not sleep well with you in my arms?"

Jade smiled a bit, turning her head to kiss him gently, although it didn't stay gentle for too long. He nibbled her lip, insisting on more of a kiss with his teeth and tongue and delicious mouth. When he finally did pull away, she sighed, tangling her fingers in his hair again and saying, "You asking to marry me was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"You exaggerate," he said, laughing and kissing her hard but quick. "You know that you would have done wonderfully either way."

"Yes, but I would have been without you," she said solemnly, thinking about her life before she was engaged to Regulus. "Nobody talked to me, love. No one. You were the only person who ever really spoke to me once I was sorted in to Hufflepuff."

"There had to be someone."

She shook her head.

"No, there was really nobody," she admitted softly. "I felt so lonely, but I didn't really realize how lonely until now."

"I promise you," Regulus whispered, kissing her gently. "You'll never be lonely again. You will always, always have me, Jade. I'm never going to leave you alone unless Merlin himself stands between us."

She bit her lip.

"And... and the Dark Lord? What if he stands between us somehow?"

Regulus tensed and looked into her eyes, thinking, searching. She had no idea what he was thinking about or what he was looking for, but she knew that the fact that he even had to think about it was sending a chill down her spine.

Instead of answering, Regulus simply kissed her lips, whispering then that they needed to be dressed so they could get something to eat.

Jade didn't want to worry about what would happen if Voldemort decided to appease Lucius and give her to him or if the thought to separate her from Regulus as some sort of punishment to her husband. Would she be able to count on Sirius to save her then? Or would she be left at the mercy of the most dangerous man to ever live?

Because she knew that no matter which side of the fight she fell on, Voldemort would be dangerous.

But she did as Regulus asked, knowing it wouldn't serve any purpose to discuss it all in that moment but to upset each other and themselves, so she separated herself from him long enough for them both to dress and then he led her out of the Slytherin common room and up to the Great Hall.

Hardly anyone had stayed for Christmas, either because their parents wanted them home where they could see them and know they were safe, or because they just missed them too much to leave them at school. There were some orphans, she knew, scattered around the Great Hall, although a lot of them were younger. Orphans of working age typically got jobs in the summers to subsidize flats they could go to during the holidays, or they would go home with friends so as not to be alone in a big, empty castle over Christmas.

No, the older students who stayed were usually fifth or seventh years especially concerned about at least one of their major exams they would have to take. N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s had driven many a student to virtual madness, and oftentimes those students were the ones spending their Christmases in the library, surrounded by textbooks and stacks of notes.

Perhaps she and Regulus should have been doing that instead of spending their time in his bed, surrounded by sweaty sheets and that alluring green light that made her want to explore him even more.

But she wasn't going to bother too much with her exams. Perhaps she was a product of her breeding, but there wasn't anything she wanted to do that she actually needed to study too hard for, and she was going to marry Regulus and focus on their household.

Sirius was right about her in a sense, she realized. She was a bit of a product of their raising, not having ambitions beyond a good marriage and maybe some good children and a nice place to live. Was that such a bad thing? Jade didn't really think so, but she knew that there was an expectation in Sirius's mind that Jade would be like he wanted her to be, something like the Muggle girl James Potter was so enamored with, but not as bossy. Jade couldn't be that, she wasn't the same person, and so it would never have worked out in the end.

They went to the Christmas feast together, sitting down toward the professors, rather than near anyone they might have socialized with closer to their age. Professor Slughorn greeted Regulus, obviously pleased to see him, but he more or less ignored Jade.

She wasn't insulted. Her family was important enough to gain his attention, but she was not intelligent enough to keep it, and she certainly hadn't done herself any favors by getting Sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Professor, do you know my fiancée, Jade Alexander?"

Of course Regulus would pull her into the conversation. She knew how uneasy Professor Slughorn made him.

"Ah, yes, I believe she does adequate work in my classes," Slughorn said, peering at her from across the table. Jade tried not to shift in her seat, although she badly wanted to get on Regulus for making her go through this. "Very pretty, indeed, and an Alexander. A good match, of course."

Good.

In Slughorn's eyes she was merely a good match, not talented enough to be a great match, or an excellent match. Perhaps if Regulus had been as talented as his brother having Jade as a bride would be less of a loss, but as Regulus was the less-talented Black brother to begin with, taking such a weak girl to marry was possibly the end of Black family supremacy.

"Thank you, sir," Regulus said happily.

Either he was ignoring the implications of Slughorn's statement or he didn't notice what was being said about her.

Jade was trying very hard not to spit out some sort of indignant comment when Professor Dumbledore leaned across the table, offering her a plate.

"Fudge, Miss Alexander?"

She thanked him quickly, looking away from his twinkling blue eyes as she grabbed a couple of pieces of fudge, placing them on her plate.

"You know, Horace," Professor Dumbledore than said, "Miss Alexander here is top of her class in Arithmancy. Quite an achievement."

"Oh, Arithmancy," Professor Slughorn said, looking her over dubiously. "I see. Yes, very good."

Regulus, it seemed, was catching on that Professor Slughorn wasn't particularly fond of Jade, and he stiffened slightly, saying, "Yes, she's very good with numbers."

He took her hand under the table and Jade couldn't help feel a bit pacified by the pride in his voice. Professor Slughorn seemed taken aback, and the conversation mercifully shifted to future plans that didn't include marriage. Professor Dumbledore had asked Regulus planned to do after graduating.

"Well," Regulus said, obviously not able to discuss his plans to join the Death Eaters, "I've got a bit of time, and to be honest I'm not entirely certain what I want to do. I might not work at all, depending."

That was something Jade hadn't thought about. He wouldn't have to work, certainly. He was the heir to the Black family fortune now that Sirius was disowned. There would never be a need for him to work. If he didn't, he might do more work for the Death Eaters, but he also might have more time to spend with her, which might keep Lucius at bay.

Jade had never been one for Christmas but she had to say that she had rather enjoyed the feast. After the awkwardness with Professor Slughorn was over she was able to focus on enjoying herself, answering Professor Dumbledore's kind questions about the wedding (which he said was his favorite sort of event and somehow this didn't surprise Jade at all), and just being with Regulus.

She hadn't gotten a lot of Christmas presents: Something hideous expensive from her parents, and another from Regulus's, a small necklace from Regulus, and a gift that had no signature that she was pretty sure was from the Marauders, but as a girl who really had no friends, she hadn't expected anything grand.

Then again, could she really say she had no friends? Sirius and Jade might have had a tense, strange sort of relationship, but he had gotten her out a tight spot and all but promised he would do so again if she ever needed him to. She supposed that she could count Sirius as a friend, if not the Marauders as a whole.

It was funny, going from being without a friend in the world to being engaged to someone Jade felt she really could love and having four friends. It wasn't what she'd thought having friends would be like, actually, but she could get used to it.

And then a sickening feeling filled her as she realized she couldn't be friends with them, not in the normal way that most people were friends. Her fiancé would be fighting with the Death Eaters and her friends would be fighting the Death Eaters. What if they had to actually fight each other? What if Regulus or Sirius killed or hurt each other in battle?

And even more than that, she knew that it would be Sirius who came out on top of that fight. Even in Muggle fighting, Regulus managed to hurt himself in hitting Sirius, and everyone knew that Sirius Black was the most talented Hogwarts had seen in years, excepting perhaps his cousin, Bellatrix. The rumor was they were the most talented since Voldemort himself. Regulus would never stand a chance, especially masked, so that Sirius couldn't knowingly avoid killing his brother.

Jade crawled into bed that night with her stomach twisting in knots.

"Are you all right?" Regulus asked gently. "You seem very tense."

She shrugged, snuggling close to him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Jade, what's wrong?"

She shook her head, kissing his chest.

"Jade..."

"I'm just thinking about the war," she said softly. "Don't worry about it, Regulus. I'm being silly."

He sighed, wrapping his arms around her tightly, kissing the top of her head. They lay like that for a long moment before he finally whispered, "I'm going to do everything I can to be sure that nothing happens to you, all right?"

She couldn't bring herself to say that that wasn't what was bothering her, so she just nodded and closed her eyes, letting sleep take her.

The holidays were over far too soon and Jade and Regulus found that they were waking up on the morning of their final day together before the other students all returned. Regulus sat up slightly and moaned.

"They're coming back this afternoon," he groaned. He then fell back onto his pillows, wrapping his arms around Jade and pulling her tight to his bare chest. "I was growing so used to your body on mine every night."

Jade groaned too.

"Now I have to go back to Hufflepuff," she moaned. "But I liked it here. I liked it..."

She frowned slightly.

What Jade liked about Slytherin wasn't the common room or the dormitories, which were really just like Hufflepuff but with different colors. It wasn't even as cozy as Hufflepuff, but she wanted to think that was only because of the eerie light coming in from off the lake. No, the reason she wanted to stay was nothing to do with anything but Regulus, and while she didn't want to say that she liked being with him only, she also didn't want him to think that she regretted being put in a house that wasn't Slytherin.

"I'll miss waking up to you, too," he said with a smile. "Just think, not so long and you'll be mine to wake up to every morning."

Jade couldn't help but smile at that, letting his arms wrap happily around her as she nuzzled against his chest. There was something fascinating about his skin, so she ran her fingers along it, wishing she didn't have to go.

"Please stop," he moaned. "Or I'm going to do something stupid."

She hadn't realized that her fingers had been playing with his nipple until he moved his hand to stop them. Jade made a mental note that this was something he seemed to like before moving her hand to his collarbone and simply resting it there.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," he sighed, kissing her forehead. "It's a bit strange, isn't it? It seems like it happened so fast."

"Not really," Jade said softly, thoughtfully. "I mean, we've known each other all our lives. We've had years to fall in love, so the fact that we did it all at once doesn't seem so strange."

Regulus smiled.

"As much as I'd love to stay in bed all day and tell you how much I love you," he whispered, "we've got to get you out of bed now because you're entirely too tempting the way you are right now."

Jade giggled and climbed out of bed, going out to take a shower and leaving Regulus to do what she knew he did while she was in the shower every day: relieve the tension created by having her in his bed, the tension he refused to let her relieve for him because he insisted that it would be too tempting.

She dressed, dried her hair, and went to breakfast with Regulus, knowing that she would be sleeping in her Hufflepuff bed that night, so she wanted to spend as much of her day as possible with Regulus before that time came.

Breakfast and lunch were typical affairs and they spent the day together in the library, studying a bit before classes started up again the next day.

By dinner, however, the other students had arrived, and Jade sat with Regulus and Severus, discussing with Severus how his holiday had gone.

"Productive," Severus said. "I'm ready for my N.E.W.T.s now, I'm sure of it."

Jade was hardly listening, looking over to the Gryffindor table where Sirius and his friends were laughing about something. Lily Evans was sitting with them, to Jade's surprise, and she and James Potter seemed to be...

Together?

Well, it appeared that nothing was truly impossible after all, Jade mused, and then she realized why Severus seemed so completely not himself. He must have known, too, that Lily Evans was finally giving Potter the chance that he'd been begging her for, for years. And Severus's chances at the red-haired beauty were long over.

But she was a Muggle-born, so Jade said nothing, merely pitying Severus and expressing it by not pointing out the shameful position he was in. No one else needed to know. He was already suffering enough.

Jade picked at her salad aimlessly, looking around the Great Hall and wondering for the first time how many of them would be alive in a year's time, two years' time... After all, she thought, there was a war on. Severus, Evans, Potter, Regulus, Sirius... Everyone was picking sides, if the sides hadn't been picked for them years ago. Even Jade would have to choose sides, and she had no choice in the matter, really. It was like her marriage. She had no choice in any of it.

But Sirius told her she had a choice. If she didn't love Regulus, she wouldn't have to marry him, Sirius had taught her. If she didn't want to be aligned with the Death Eaters, she wouldn't have to be. He had told her at one point that he could protect her, keep her safe from Voldemort and his followers.

Jade shook her head, taking a drink of pumpkin juice.

She had made her choice by falling in love.

Jade would marry Regulus because she loved him, and she would be on the side of the Death Eaters because that was Regulus's choice, but she would not be involved if she could help it. Jade didn't want to hurt people, she certainly didn't want to kill people, and if there were any way she could talk Regulus out of getting involved she would.

But everyone would be involved some way or another, whether they wanted it or not, and so she just gave in to the inevitable.

It was war. There was a war on. And that was the way it had to be.


	11. Plot Twist

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the lovely **_**Forever Siriusly Sirius**_**, who has begun reading this story. I hope it pleases you, dear!**

** -C**

Jade stretched out in her bed and frowned. Something was wrong, something was missing.

And then she realized it was the fact that Regulus was not with her, that his arms were not around her, and she sighed, sitting up slightly and rubbing her eyes. She would have liked to have gone back to his bed, but she knew that his roommates weren't going to be very pleased with her being there, and her own roommates were sure to tell on them.

She had classes that day but she couldn't remember what they were. Instead of checking as she rolled out of bed she resolved to check her planner on the way out of the room and she dragged herself to the shower, pulling off her pajamas and stepping inside, turning the warm water on and letting it cascade across her body.

He'd considered showering with her a couple of times over the break, but Regulus had said that the temptation would be too great if he could see her naked and wet, steam all around them from the warm water.

Jade moaned slightly, almost able to feel his hands running down her sides, his mouth on her neck. All thought of washing her hair was out of her mind as she thought of the way it felt to have his body pressing its weight down on her, the taste of his mouth, the feel of his hands on her breasts.

Giving into a guilty pleasure, Jade moved her fingers down to the spot between her legs that Regulus had become so fond of. In truth, she'd become fond of him putting his fingers there too.

The idea of touching herself had never even occurred to Jade. She didn't have older brothers with dirty magazines around, and if her father had them he wouldn't be stupid enough to keep them in the house. They would probably be at his office, disguised. No would go through his drawers at work. And Jade and her mother had never discussed intercourse of any kind or anything related to it. She handed her a book that was a pureblood approved way of discussing how babies were made and that it was Jade's duty to produce heirs for her husband someday.

And that was it.

Perhaps if she had gotten to this point on her own she would have felt guilty and unsure of it, but Jade had already been exploring with Regulus she didn't feel the shame she had felt when her mother had first informed her via book of the nature of sexual relations. It wasn't shameful at all, the beautiful emotions that were stirred up with the interactions between people who loved each other.

And Jade pushed the question of whether her parents loved each other out of her mind as she began rubbing herself, imagining that they were Regulus's fingers instead.

It was a bit of an adjustment, but Jade found that it wasn't as difficult as she had expected to find the places Regulus seemed to know just where to touch straight off. She didn't recall what any of it was called from the book, and most of it she was sure hadn't been mentioned (nothing that wasn't necessary for actually creating a baby), but she really didn't care about the specific details of anatomy in that moment. She was imagining that Regulus was rubbing that spot just at the top of her folds, the little nub that she didn't know the name of but had realized was her friend in pleasure.

Jade may have never touched herself before, may not have really known the planes and curves of her body and what they would do at a touch, but she was always quick at learning new things and she certainly didn't have any sort of trouble with putting her body through its paces once she started.

"Jade?" said a tentative voice in the bathroom. "Are you nearly done? You'll miss breakfast."

She cleared her throat to mask what she had just been doing, just in case the stream of water wasn't doing a good enough job.

"Yes, very nearly, thank you Patty," Jade called, listening carefully for the sound of Patty leaving the bathroom. At the sound of that door closing, Jade began in earnest to pleasure herself once more, knowing that her time was short before she had to pull herself together and go to class. It took a few clumsy minutes before she was able to bring herself to climax. She had to hold onto the soap tray to keep herself relatively steady on her feet, steady enough to stay standing. Then Jade turned off the water, climbed out of the shower, and began to dry herself off.

Jade poked her head out of the bathroom to make sure her roommates were gone to breakfast before strolling out in nothing but her towel and putting on her uniform. She'd always been shy about her body and had never changed in front of anyone but Regulus, and that was still a very recent development. Sometimes she had to fight the urge to cover herself still when he peeled clothes off her, despite the reverent way he looked at her. Jade shivered at the thought of his eyes filled with hunger.

Shaking off the thought, she pulled on her robes over the rest of her uniform, pushed her feet into her shoes, and carefully wand-dried her hair into loose, soft waves. It was the sort of spell that took practice, otherwise she ended up with absolutely incurably frizzy hair for the rest of the day, and that was the last thing she wanted. Throwing her book bag over her shoulder, Jade went down to the plant-filled common room and out into the corridor, up to the Great Hall with hands shaking nervously.

Back to her usual routine.

She walked into the Great Hall and found that Regulus wasn't there yet, so she found a spot on the end of the Hufflepuff table to sit down and begin putting marmalade on a bit of toast.

And it wasn't Regulus, but Sirius, who sat across from her a moment later.

"I need to talk with you," he muttered. "Not now, obviously, but later? Do you have a free period, or...?"

"I have the afternoon off," Jade said casually, not looking up at him. Something about the tone of his voice said that there was something she shouldn't be drawing attention to them over.

"Kitchens for lunch, then?" he said softly. "Or have you made plans with my brother?"

"Nothing other than a general understanding," Jade said honestly. "Is it something I need to break lunch with him for?"

"You might want to," he muttered. "I'm a bit concerned about your safety and I don't want to involve him in this until we know what we want to do. Tell him you'll fill him in when we can, all right?"

Jade nodded.

"See you at lunch, then," he whispered. "Have a lovely morning, Jade."

"And you," she sighed, watching him get up and leave her sitting alone at the table.

Several minutes later Regulus sat down across from Jade as she was finishing her toast and drinking the remains down.

"Are you ready for class?" he asked gently.

Arithmancy together.

"Yes," she said quickly, not daring a glance over at the Gryffindor table. She didn't need Regulus to be suspicious of her and Sirius again. "There's something I need to tell you, though. I'll write you a note in class I don't think we'll have time to discuss it properly before that."

"All right," he said slowly. "Is everything all right?"

"Not sure yet," she admitted, standing and throwing her book bag over her shoulder again. "C'mon."

Regulus took her hand and walked with her up to the sixth floor, where the classroom for Arithmancy was. They settled in their usual seats, side-by-side, and Professor Vector greeted them habitually as he wrote the daily equation on the board.

Arithmancy was generally a lecture class, but the first person to solve the equation would earn ten points for their house, and likely a slightly higher grade on the next essay (although that bit had never been proven). It was as though Professor Vector knew how dry his lectures were.

As soon as class started Regulus pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and scribbled:

_What were you saying?_

Jade read the line quickly, pulling the parchment toward her as Professor Vector turned around, wanting to make it look as though she was either taking notes or working on the equation. Instead, she wrote down her note.

_I'm not going to lunch today. Sirius said he needs to talk with me about something, said it's urgent, maybe dangerous. He said I can fill you in when we've had time to go over it. All right?_

Regulus frowned down at the note, but he nodded.

Jade couldn't blame him for being a little bit uneasy or suspicious. After all, she didn't even know what was going on. It did all seem rather suspect, but Sirius had proven himself as their ally and she wasn't about to start second-guessing him when he'd already been so helpful. She had enough people not to trust without adding Sirius and his cronies to the list. It was nice to be relaxed around someone other than Regulus.

She did try to work on the equation after that, but Jade had never cared much for the daily equations and they only got harder each class.

When they finished she went to her next class, but she barely paid any attention, wondering what it was that Sirius was wanting to talk with her about. It was hard to think about anything else when she knew that Regulus was out of sorts, too.

It was a long sort of class, certainly longer than usual, but at least she had been reading ahead so she didn't feel so bad about not really paying attention. Her mind was already in the kitchens.

As soon as the bell sounded, Jade made her way down to the kitchens, tickling the pear and going in to find Sirius already sitting there, waiting for her, his knee jostling anxiously as he watched, waiting for her. House-elves all around him were piling food onto the table, and not what she knew they would be serving for lunch, but some of her favorite puddings and seafood dishes that were rare at Hogwarts. She raised an eyebrow.

"I see you've changed the menu," she pointed out, nodding to the chocolate pudding that looked admittedly delectable.

"Yeah," he muttered. He was still anxious and searching, like he was waiting for something. "I find lunch boring. I can't eat sandwiches every day. Neither can anyone else. How's your day?"

"So far, very long and confusing," Jade said, raising her eyes to his. "I want to know what's going on, Sirius, and I want to know now."

"Andromeda happened to hear from Narcissa," Sirius said slowly, "who is the only member of our family not blasted off the family tree still talking to Dromeda, including your fiancé. Narcissa learned over dinner with Lucius and the Lestranges that Voldemort himself plans to meet you at the next pureblood event, assess you, maybe even recruit you."

Jade could feel her blood running cold as she took in this new information. She tried to calm herself, breathing slow and deep as her heart speed up of its own accord. Nothing she did could make it slow, and she looked up into Sirius's gray eyes and saw fear there, as well.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "I wish I had some sort of answer, but I don't know what you and Regulus had expected out of this in the first place. I just don't know."

Sirius was right, of course, it was a big dilemma. She took a deep breath, filled up her plate with food from the table, and ignored the fact Sirius was looking at her for a moment.

Then, she looked up at him and said, "He said he was going to try to be like Lucius and keep his wife out of it, but it sounds like he might not have a choice. Did Narcissa go through this?"

"Of course she did," Sirius snorted. "But she doesn't have any extraordinary skills to speak of."

"And I do?" she retorted.

"Yes," Sirius said with a small smile. "You forget, Jade, we all saw you growing up, the extensive wandless magic you were able to use to get back at us boys for picking on you... You never got in trouble because we could never prove it was you, but we all knew."

"I had forgotten that," Jade said with a small smile. "I don't do it anymore. I... I don't know that I can. Once I got my wand..."

Sirius nodded.

"If anyone could force that back out of you, though," he whispered, suddenly solemn again, "if anyone knew how... It would be Voldemort."

She shivered before she could suppress it and Sirius reached out and touched her hand, smiling at her encouragingly.

"It's okay," he said. "We can figure this out. The next event isn't until Easter holiday-"

"No," she whispered, looking down at her hands. "It's the next Hogsmeade weekend... Valentine's Day."

"What?" he yelped. "So soon? What's happening?"

"Wedding," she whispered, looking down at her hands. "Lucius and Narcissa are being married. I expect you and Dromeda weren't invited."

"You expect right," he sighed. "Damn, I was counting on that time to figure this out."

Jade could feel her stomach turning and she pushed away the rest of the food, good as it was, staring down at the floor.

"I'm going to have to face him, aren't I?"

"If I can't think of something," he said slowly, "you might. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "I just sort of want to be nobody again. My life was easier."

Sirius gave her a sad sort of smile.

"Then you would never have known what it was to love, though," he said gently. "Would you really give that up?"

Jade blinked looking at his smile and knowing he was right. Now that she knew what it was to be loved, to be in love, it was hard imagining her world without it again. She didn't really want to go back to how things were at all. She shook her head and stood, pacing a short bit of floor by them once and standing beside the table.

"We'll have to think on this," she said, pursing her lips nervously. "There's got to be a solution, or at least a way to mitigate things."

Sirius nodded, standing in front of her.

She took a small step back almost without thinking about it, and Sirius's eyes darkened a little at the almost-imperceptible shuffle. He really did have amazing senses, Jade mused. There was just no hiding things from him.

"Jade, I want to ask you a favor very quickly," he whispered. "It doesn't mean anything and I'm not asking for anything other than this small thing. It never leaves this room that it ever even happened. I just... I just need to know."

Jade raised an eyebrow. What did he need to know so badly and why was he being so cryptic?

"What?"

He took a step toward her and Jade took a deep breath so as not to instinctively back away.

"This is going to sound worse than it is, so let me explain," he said, almost pleadingly. She couldn't ever recall him looking so sincere about something. "I... I want to kiss you."

Her jaw dropped. Was it really back to this again? Hadn't they decided that they never worked? Hadn't he resolved to help her and Regulus and stop trying to sabotage them?

"Hear me out," he said quickly, obviously realizing what was going through her head. "I just need to know if there was anything there at all. I mean, obviously we weren't going to work out as a couple, but were we even physically compatible? Please, Jade, I'll leave you completely alone after this, you have my word, but if I don't know what it's like to kiss you I'll spend the rest of my life wondering. And I figure it's better to ask now than waiting until you two are married."

Well, he had a point, there. Not really seeing how she could deny the request with the knowledge that they would be the only two who would ever know about it, she nodded slowly, watching relief flood his ever-nearing features.

Before Jade had a chance to change her mind and pull away, his lips touched hers, soft and tentative, something she had never experience from him before. She had a thought that maybe this was the way he would kiss someone he truly loved, someone he wasn't just trying to seduce, but someone he wanted to wake up next to every morning. The thought was a sweet one, but she hoped she was wrong, just because she didn't want him to think of her that way every time he thought of how he kissed her.

Sirius pulled back, sighing and smiling a little bit.

"You were right," he said happily. "There's nothing there."

Jade nodded her head, careful not to act too relieved. She didn't want to insult his manhood.

"How does that... how does that make you feel?" she asked softly.

Sirius looked around them for a moment, then looked back at her face and smiled even broader, and for that split second Jade was absolutely sure how it could be that nearly every girl in Hogwarts thought they were in love with him.

"Really, really great," he assured her, kissing her forehead and leaving her standing alone in the kitchens.


End file.
